With a focus on the most recent wave of political emigration from Russia unleashed during President Vladimir Putin’s third term, this book explores the activities of those who voice political dissent after leaving their country. Based on rich ethnographic data and interviews gathered among Russian emigrants to the EU member-states, who are engaged in civic and political participation targeted at their home country, it demonstrates that emigration, particularly forced emigration in which political dissidents are squeezed out of their country, no longer functions efficiently as a means of calming political unrest. Drawing on the concept of social remittances, the author analyses the content, structure and the channels of political democratic remittances sent by political dissidents overseas, the factors that shape them and the perceived effects of these endeavours. A study of the latest wave of politically charged emigration from Russia and emigrants’ engagement in ‘homeland politics’, this volume will appeal to scholars across a range of social sciences working on migration, diaspora and democratisation processes, citizenship, EU studies and Russia studies.

"In the rich and growing body of work on democracy, there has been little attention to the connection between democracy and migration; and when there is, it is usually in connection with countries that see in-migration rather than out-migration. The latter is the focus of this book, which looks specifically at remittances--money sent from a migrant back to their home country--and how they reshape the internal balance of power by influencing the incentives and opportunities for political action among individuals receiving remittance income. Not only do remittances provide the resources that make contentious collective action possible, but they also reduce households' dependence on state-delivered goods and thus undermine the effectiveness of regime patronage strategies that underpin electoral authoritarianism. The book starts with a general examination of international migration and associated remittance flows, pointing out that remittance flows have become so great as to be one of the largest sources of foreign income in autocracies--and one that goes directly to democratizing agents (that is, to individuals), largely circumventing authoritarian governments. The authors then look the mechanisms that cause non-democracies collapse, and how these mechanisms are encouraged by remittances. Specifically, the authors look at how remittances inrease the likehood of individual-level protest, decrease the appeal of patronage networks, and act as an accelerant during the democratizing process"--

Adeptly navigating one of the most pressing issues on the current global agenda, this topical Research Handbook provides a comprehensive and research-based exploration of the sociology of migration. As well as highlighting the field’s achievements and current challenges, it explores key concepts used in current research, methods employed, and the spheres and contexts in which migrants participate.

Freedom in the World, the Freedom House flagship survey whose findings have been published annually since 1972, is the standard-setting comparative assessment of global political rights and civil liberties. The survey ratings and narrative reports on 192 countries and a group of select territories are used by policy makers, the media, international corporations, and civic activists and human rights defenders to monitor trends in democracy and track improvements and setbacks in freedom worldwide. Press accounts of the survey findings appear in hundreds of influential newspapers in the United States and abroad and form the basis of numerous radio and television reports. The Freedom in the World political rights and civil liberties ratings are determined through a multi-layered process of research and evaluation by a team of regional analysts and eminent scholars. The analysts used a broad range of sources of information, including foreign and domestic news reports, academic studies, nongovernmental organizations, think tanks, individual professional contacts, and visits to the region, in conducting their research. The methodology of the survey is derived in large measure from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and these standards are applied to all countries and territories, irrespective of geographical location, ethnic or religious composition, or level of economic development.

"In the rich and growing body of work on democracy, there has been little attention to the connection between democracy and migration; and when there is, it is usually in connection with countries that see in-migration rather than out-migration. The latter is the focus of this book, which looks specifically at remittances--money sent from a migrant back to their home country--and how they reshape the internal balance of power by influencing the incentives and opportunities for political action among individuals receiving remittance income. Not only do remittances provide the resources that make contentious collective action possible, but they also reduce households' dependence on state-delivered goods and thus undermine the effectiveness of regime patronage strategies that underpin electoral authoritarianism. The book starts with a general examination of international migration and associated remittance flows, pointing out that remittance flows have become so great as to be one of the largest sources of foreign income in autocracies--and one that goes directly to democratizing agents (that is, to individuals), largely circumventing authoritarian governments. The authors then look the mechanisms that cause non-democracies collapse, and how these mechanisms are encouraged by remittances. Specifically, the authors look at how remittances inrease the likehood of individual-level protest, decrease the appeal of patronage networks, and act as an accelerant during the democratizing process"--

This volume explores the experiences of a wide variety of middle-class migrant groups across the globe, including ‘ethnic entrepreneurs’ building new businesses in cosmopolitan neighbourhoods in Sydney; Chinese grandparents shuttling between Australia, China and Singapore to support their extended families; well-off young Indians in Mumbai strategising their future education pathways overseas; and Japanese mothers finding ways to belong in a London middle-class neighbourhood. This book asks how relatively privileged migrant groups negotiate their life trajectories, relationships and aspirations while ‘on the move’ and how they transform the communities and societies that they move between across time and space. The book’s chapters consider motives for migration, as well as experiences of risk, uncertainty and insecurity in diverse local contexts. A fresh look at the migration of those who possess skills and resources that can bring about significant economic, social and cultural change, this book engages critically with the notions of ‘middling’ migration, social mobility and mobile privilege in the global context of hardening borders and immigration complexity. It will appeal to scholars with interests in contemporary forms of migration and mobility and their local and transnational consequences.

Building on research within the fields of exile studies and critical migration studies and drawing links between historical and contemporary ‘refugee scholarship’, this volume challenges the bias of methodological nationalism and Eurocentrism in discussing the multifaceted forms of knowledge emerging in the context of migration and mobility. With critical attention to the meaning, production and scope of ‘refugee scholarship’ generated at the institutions of higher education, it also focuses on ‘refugee knowledge’ produced outside academia, and scrutinizes the conditions according to which it is validated or silenced. Presenting studies of historical refuge and exile, together with the experiences of contemporary refugee scholars, this book will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in forced migration, refugee studies, the sociology of knowledge and the phenomenon of ‘insider’ knowledge, and research methods and methodology. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.