Remittances and Votes: Emigrant political participation in Mexico Adriana Jimenez-Cuen Department of Government London School of Economics and Political Science A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy London, November 2008 UMI Number: U615282 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U615282 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 I-Si/- til British Library of Political and Economic Science Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of the author. I warrant that this authorization does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. 2 Abstract Few recent studies have shown how Mexico, like many other Latin American countries at the beginning of this century, has adopted new policies and programmes in order to maintain and (re)build economic, social and cultural bonds with its migrant communities in the US, who represent about 15 percent of Mexico’s population. Less research has been conducted on the constitutional reforms and electoral laws that allow Mexicans abroad to participate politically in their home country’s domestic affairs from afar. Employing a transnationalist approach to international migration and democratization studies, this thesis is the first major study of the politics of Mexican emigration to the US and the impact of migrants’ electoral participation in their home country’s affairs presented in political and institutional terms. The main question is how and with what consequences did the Mexican state extend formal political membership to its emigrant population both at the national and sub­ national level? Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, this thesis shows that the implementation of emigrants’ political rights in Mexico has resulted from cross-border coalition formations between US-based political migrant groups and domestic non-PRI political parties (mainly the centre-left PRD) in a context of democratization and decentralization unfolding in Mexico, as well as the country’s insertion in the global economy. In turn, although only a small number of Mexican migrants have taken advantage of these opportunities for cross-border political action to date, the opening up of the Mexican political system creates new challenges to the incipient democratic practice. For instance, the growing influence of migrants and migrant organisations in domestic politics, the complexities of representing and being accountable to constituencies abroad and to a limited extent, the transformation of traditional political structures, especially in communities with high levels of emigration. 4 Acknowledgments My deepest gratitude goes to my supervisor, Prof. George Philip, for his continuous support, precious feedback and pragmatic advice. Without his encouragement and excellent supervision, the completion of this doctoral thesis would have not been possible. I am also indebted to my advisor, Dr. Eiko Thielemann, for stimulating discussions and valuable comments on various chapters of this thesis in their various stages. I presented parts of this work to different audiences and received valuable comments and criticisms that were helpful to clarify many aspects of my research and strengthen my arguments. I would like to mention in particular the Migration and Latin American Politics Panel at the MPSA 66th Annual Conference; Migration Matters at the MESEA Conference; the Public Policy and Migration Panel at the PSA and the Local Diasporas panel at the SLAS Annual Conference. The Latin American Studies and the Migration Studies seminars at the London School of Economics (LSE) also provided stimulating and lively discussions. The Government Department at the LSE has provided an exciting and friendly academic environment throughout my research. I feel very lucky in having met so many colleagues and friends, many of whom provided fresh insights and useful advice for my work. I would like to thank, in particular, Andrej Keba, Alex Leveringhaus, Monica Garcia Quesada, Helen Addison, Manjeet Ramgotra, Mitch Young and Iavor Rangelov, as well as Andrew Holland for excellent proofreading assistance. The indispensable financial support for this research came from grants by the Mexican Ministry of Education and the LSE, for which I am most grateful. I would like to thank Dr. Frank Laczko, for generously offering me a fellowship period at the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Geneva. This thesis is dedicated with all my love, admiration and gratitude to my father, Dr. Ramon Jimenez Caballero, who always believed in me. This achievement is the result of many efforts carried out not only by me, but by my parents, uncles and grandparents, who always sought to provide even more opportunities to the next generation. My interest in international migration has originated from my own family experiences; it has meant for us both an opportunity and a sacrifice. A very special thank you to my life companion Emanuele Tamburrano for being such an endless source of energy, love and inspiration, even through the most difficult times. 6 To my dad 7 Contents 1. Introduction......................................................................................................................... 14 1.1. Emigrant political participation in Latin America..................................................... 25 1.2. Research strategy.......................................................................................................... 38 1.3. Thesis structure ............................................................................................................ 42 2. Mexico’s Pattern of Democratization and Migrant Politics.........................................46 2.1. The Transnationalist Approach and the Mexican case.............................................. 46 2.1.1. Political transnationalism and translocality in the Mexican case......................51 Collective remittances and the state................................................................................54 2.1.2. Political transnationalism and the role of the state of origin............................. 59 2.2. Mexico’s pattern of democratization and migrant politics.........................................64 2.3. Towards a model of migrant politics in Mexico.........................................................72 Federal and local governments...................................................................................... 75 Political parties................................................................................................................76 Migrant organisations..................................................................................................... 77 Mainstream and transnational media and bi-national public......................... opinion 79 3. Policy antecedents and current state initiatives on migrant citizenship.....................82 3.1. The history of Mexico-US migration and Mexico’s emigration policy....................85 3.1.1. Mexico’s loss of its Northern territory and ‘open border’ policy during revolutionary Mexico.............................................................................................. 85 3.1.2. The ‘Great Repatriation’ and Mexico’s policy of return....................................88 3.1.3. The ‘bracero' programme....................................................................................94 3.1.4. The ‘Pocho 'Illegality Phase and Mexico’s lack of emigration policy............. 96 3.2. The change in Mexico’s emigration policy..............................................................101 3.2.1. Changing Mexico-US migration patterns and the US context of reception 102 3.2.2. Political and economic transformations in the country of origin..................... 106 3.2.3. Politics without Borders: New state initiatives towards migrant political inclusion...............................................................................................................110 Salinas' symbolic policies towards Mexicans abroad.................................................112 Zedillo's regionalist approach on migrants' incorporation........................................ 113 Fox' institutionalisation of migrant participation in domestic....................... affairs 116 3.2.4. Dual nationality and citizenship and the 1996 federal legal reforms 122 3.3. Conclusion.................................................................................................................. 130 4. The transnational dimension of the vote abroad bill negotiations in Mexico 133 4.1. The