On the Borderlines of Voting Acta Universitatis Tamperensis 2403
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JOHANNA PELTONIEMI On the Borderlines of Voting On the Borderlines of Voting PELTONIEMI JOHANNA Acta Universitatis Tamperensis 2403 JOHANNA PELTONIEMI On the Borderlines of Voting Finnish emigrants’ transnational identities and political participation AUT 2403 AUT JOHANNA PELTONIEMI On the Borderlines of Voting Finnish emigrants’ transnational identities and political participation ACADEMIC DISSERTATION To be presented, with the permission of the Faculty Council of the Faculty of Management of the University of Tampere, for public discussion in the Väinö Linna auditorium K 104, Kalevantie 5, Tampere, on 7 September 2018, at 12 o’clock. UNIVERSITY OF TAMPERE JOHANNA PELTONIEMI On the Borderlines of Voting Finnish emigrants’ transnational identities and political participation Acta Universitatis Tamperensis 2403 Tampere University Press Tampere 2018 ACADEMIC DISSERTATION University of Tampere Faculty of Management Finland The originality of this thesis has been checked using the Turnitin OriginalityCheck service in accordance with the quality management system of the University of Tampere. Copyright ©2018 Tampere University Press and the author Cover design by Mikko Reinikka Acta Universitatis Tamperensis 2403 Acta Electronica Universitatis Tamperensis 1913 ISBN 978-952-03-0809-4 (print) ISBN 978-952-03-0810-0 (pdf) ISSN-L 1455-1616 ISSN 1456-954X ISSN 1455-1616 http://tampub.uta.fi Suomen Yliopistopaino Oy – Juvenes Print 441 729 Tampere 2018 Painotuote ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to thank everyone of those 1,067 Finns residing abroad who took time in their lives to answer a long questionnaire sent from their native country and for so many of them contacting me with supplementary materials, books and stories. I was truly touched by the enthusiasm and interest I was met with. Thank you for showing me the true significance of this topic! Professor Ilkka Ruostetsaari has supervised my bachelor’s thesis, master’s thesis and now this dissertation. It is clear that Ilkka has thought me pretty much everything I know about how to conduct research. I owe my deepest gratitude for the constant support and cheering. Professor Tapio Raunio has always taken care for the best possible working conditions and been the boss one can truly count on. I am grateful for Tapio for guiding me in the first steps of my academic career. I want to thank adjunct professor Ismo Söderling and doctor Peter Miller for being my pre-examiners and Peter for agreeing to be my opponent in the defence. It is an honour to have my study examined and discussed by such experienced professionals. The department of politics within the Faculty of Management has been a warm and stimulating working environment, thanks to my colleagues. I want to express my gratitude especially to Tarja Seppä, whose spirited guidance and never-fading motivation for improving teaching are truly an inspiration, and Sirke Mäkinen, my academic big sister. Thank you both for sharing your wisdom on a daily basis! Professor David Arter has read and commented nearly all of my papers related to this study, and his comments have shaped this study significantly. David has helped me to remember that behind every statistic, behind each number there is a person, and the story of this person deserves to be told. I want to thank Professor Elina Kestilä-Kekkonen, who has offered her help countless times throughout this study, and professor Kaisa Herne for all the support and guidance. Adjunct professor Hanna Wass – thank you for your grand support! I am privileged to be working with such a strong and respected role model. I would like to thank adjunct professor Sami Borg for his much appreciated help and insightful comments during the data collection. A very special thanks goes to my colleagues and friends all around Finland – without you this project would have been so much more boring: Maria Bäck, Michael Herman, Tapio Juntunen, Marko Juutinen, Anna Kronlund, Aki Luoto, Linda Mellner, Anne Nykänen, Pallavi Pal, Mikko Poutanen, Jenni Rinne, Hyeon Su Seo, Josefina Sipinen, Aino Tiihonen, Cai Weaver and Jussi Westinen. Thank you all for the camaraderie! I have been in the fortunate position of being employed by the Faculty of Management throughout my doctoral studies. Thank you Sari Saastamoinen and Antti Lönnqvist for keeping this research (and researcher) going! Furthermore, Finland’s Ministry of Justice Unit for Democracy, Language Affairs and Fundamental Rights; Kansan Sivistysrahasto; Migration Institute of Finland; and, Tampereen Suomalainen Klubi funded the data collection – thank you! If it was not this support, this study would not have been possible. I want to express my gratitude to Paula Selenius and Tina Nordqvist as well as all the staff from Finland Society who opened my eyes to the grave lack of research on Finnish emigrants’ political participation. A special thank you goes to Sini Castrén for her collegiality – like we have many a time agreed, it is very much empowering to have someone “on the other side”. As previous research has shown, parents play a big role in political socialisation. Thus, being raised in a family living and breathing society and politics, it shouldn’t be surprising for me to have chosen this career! A heartfelt thanks to my parents Kristiina and Pentti – for everything. My final thank you is to Lucio, who is not only my spouse and my best friend, but also the best academic commentator a girl could wish for! Lastly, this dissertation is dedicated to my son Leo, who everyday shows me that there is so much more in life than research. Tampere, June 14th, 2018 Johanna Peltoniemi ABSTRACT Globalisation and European integration have led to increased personal mobility, and a growing number of countries have enfranchised their emigrant citizens. Consequently, the electorate has become increasingly dispersed geographically. People’s increased mobility across national borders has highlighted questions about national belonging. The traditional assumption that domestic politics is to be exclusively decided within the borders of the nation state is challenged by the notion that the political communities have extended beyond state territories. Accordingly, globalisation has led political representation to a need to confront new demands, and the re-evaluation of the means of emigrant political representation is necessary. With ever more citizens living and working outside of their home country for several years of their lives, the topic of transnational political participation and voting from abroad is highly relevant, yet at the same time it is often omitted from electoral analyses. The general aim of this study is to explore the transnational identities as well as political and electoral participation of Finnish emigrants. The statistical analyses are based on data collected from Finnish emigrants residing in Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Canada and the United States (n=1,067). The findings of this study show that the political participation does not considerably differ between Finnish emigrants and those who have remained in Finland. While Finnish emigrants’ identities and political participation are transnational, their electoral participation is not high in either the country of origin or the country of residence. The low level of voter turnout among emigrants in Finnish elections can largely be explained by the costs of voting, especially the long distance to the polling stations. Adopting convenience voting methods, such as postal voting, could increase turnout among emigrants, as they previously have done in other countries (such as in Sweden and Italy). This study demonstrates that emigrants’ electoral participation decreases in homeland elections over time, while it simultaneously increases in the elections in the country of residence. Furthermore, the findings of this study suggest that the party identification of emigrants resembles rather the current political climate of the country of residence than party support in Finland. The contribution of this study lies in adding to the few existing analyses of electorates abroad. Thus, this study contributes to the existing literature on both political and migration studies by exploring new perspectives on the previously scarcely addressed field of emigrant voting. While it is relatively well known how different socio-economic factors influence voter turnout in general, the low level of turnout abroad has hitherto been a largely unknown area in political science. The findings of this study provide a more comprehensive understanding of voter behaviour in the globalised world, and the findings can be used to develop targeted interventions aimed at ameliorating transnational political participation and advancing emigrant representation within the Finnish electoral system. TIIVISTELMÄ Globalisaatio ja Euroopan yhdentyminen ovat lisänneet liikkuvuutta, ja yhä useammat maat sallivat ulkokansalaisilleen äänioikeuden. Tästä on seurannut äänestäjäkunnan enenevä maantieteellinen hajonta. Kansalliset rajat ylittävä muuttoliike on korostanut kansalliseen identiteettiin liittyviä kysymyksiä. Poliittiset yhteisöt ovat laajentuneet valtioiden maa-alueiden ulkopuolelle, mikä on haastanut perinteisen olettaman siitä, että kotimaan politiikkaa koskeva päätöksenteko tapahtuu yksinomaan kansallisvaltion rajojen sisäpuolella. Globalisaation myötä poliittisen edustuksen on vastattava uusiin vaatimuksiin ja ulkokansalaisten poliittisen edustuksen uudelleentarkastelu on välttämätöntä, kun yhä useammat kansalaiset elävät ja