ELECTIONS BEYOND BORDERS: OVERSEAS VOTING IN MEXICO AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, 1994-2008 BY MATTHEW A. LIEBER B.A. CARLETON COLLEGE, 1992 M.A. JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, 1998 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AT BROWN UNIVERSITY PROVIDENCE, RI MAY 2010 © Copyright by Matthew A. Lieber 2010 ii This dissertation by Matthew A. Lieber is accepted in its present form by the Department of Political Science as satisfying the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date _____________ _________________________________ Peter Andreas, Advisor Recommended to the Graduate Council Date _____________ _________________________________ Richard Snyder, Reader Date _____________ _________________________________ Ulrich Krotz, Reader Approved by the Graduate Council Date _____________ _________________________________ Sheila Bonde, Dean of the Graduate School iii Curriculum Vita Matthew A. Lieber was born in New York City on May 13th, 1970 and raised in New Haven, Connecticut. His research and teaching focus on foreign policy, global development, and the politics of transnational flows beginning with human migration. His primary regional interest lies in Latin America and the Caribbean, and he has also conducted extensive research on Europe as well as projects on Asia and Africa. He completed his B.A. with honors in history at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota in 1992. In 1998, he earned an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins University School for Advanced International Studies in Washington. Matthew was awarded the Craig M. Cogut Dissertation Writing Fellowship for 2007- 2008 by the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Brown University. In 2009, his paper ―National Institutions in a World Polity: Transnational Diasporas, Political Remittances and State Responses‖ was awarded the Martin Heisler Award for best conference paper by a graduate student by the International Studies Association. In 2007, he conducted field work in the Dominican Republic and participated as a graduate member of the InterDom project of the Fundación Global de Democracía y Desarrollo in Santo Domingo. In 2006, he was awarded a Research Fellowship at the Center for Inter- American Studies and Programs of the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México. Also in 2006, he was sponsored by the Mexico-North Transnationalism Project to conduct field work as a Visiting Investigator at the Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. In 2006, he was sponsored by Brown University and the Consortium on Qualitative Research Methods to receive intensive research methods training at Arizona State University. His publications include a chapter on the U.S. Enterprise Funds in Carol Lancaster, ed., Foreign Aid and Private Sector Development (Providence, RI: Watson Institute, 2006), and he was co-author of an article with primary author Scott Siegel entitled ―Trends in Multi-Method Research‖ that was published in the newsletter Qualitative Methods (5, 1 Spring 2007). He has presented research papers and organized conference panels at the International Studies Association, the American Political Science Association, the Midwest Political Science Association and the Latin American Studies Association. Presently, he is a Visiting Instructor at Beloit College in Wisconsin. He teaches courses in International Relations, U.S. Foreign Policy and Latin America and Global Development. He has earned language certificates in German, Italian and Spanish. In 1991 he interned in the office of Senator George Mitchell, and he returned to work in the U.S. Senate after completing his undergraduate degree. From 1993 to 1996, he worked in the Clinton Administration as a staff member in Vice President Gore‘s office and the U.S. Treasury Department legislative affairs unit. He later held the position of County Field Director for the 2000 Democratic Coordinated Campaign in New Jersey. From 2001 to 2003, he was employed by a private university in Mexico City to teach courses and help manage the first Associate Degree program accredited in both Mexico and the U.S. iv Acknowledgements The major individual effort that this dissertation has been would be nothing without the help and support of numerous others. First, a deeply appreciative thank you to my dissertation advisor, Peter Andreas, whose input and guidance has always been smart, wise and wonderfully punctual. He has been expert in the light but regular prod, and his incisive responses are always dead-on. To Richard Snyder, my very, very special thanks for a steady stream of sound criticism and enthusiastic encouragement, which accumulated force as constructive support at every stage of the project. I was fortunate to work closely with Tom Biersteker, to whom I am grateful for indispensable advice in the early going. I am especially grateful to Ulrich Krotz for joining the committee and providing his deep knowledge of bilateral politics and international relations theory. At Brown, I have been privileged to enjoy the University's support for six years, which begins with the Political Science Department. Thank you to all of my professors whose lessons made their mark on a slightly older graduate student. Thank you to Professors Schiller, Orr, Jones Luong, Krause and Morone for shepherding me through the program with sensible counsel at regular intervals. Helping me learn and digest the new tricks were my lively graduate student colleagues: thanks to a special group. The third leg of the stool is the Department‘s vital support system; here my thanks go especially to Suzanne Brough, who has been a rock, and also to Patty Gardner and Elaine Kenner. I would like to thank Brown University‘s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies; the support of the Center‘s Cogut Fellowship enabled me to complete the chapters and present them at four conferences in 2007-2008. Professor James Green and Susan Hirsch provided wonderful support and encouragement at different stages. The graduate students of CLACS were well-organized, dedicated and fun to work with. The field work was supported by the Mexico-North Research Project on Transnationalism and by the Center for Inter-American Studies at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM). Special thanks go to Greta DeLeon for facilitating my research and to Dr. Samuel Tovar at the Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (UAP) Department of Law and Political Science for graciously hosting me during my field work in Puebla. Beyond logistical support, my conversations with student and faculty colleagues at the UAP enriched my understanding of the deeper social and political problems wrapped up in the Mexico-US relationship as I confronted them in my daily field outings. Thank you also to Dr. Tovar for taking me to the university hospital and seeing that I received such good medical care when I got sick in Puebla. At ITAM in Mexico City, many thanks to Dr. Rafael Fernández de Castro and Jennifer Jeffs. Rafael‘s ability and willingness to open doors that would have otherwise been closed helped me kick the research into a new gear, with sharper focus and more political salience. The CEPI staff, students, investigators, and faculty supported my ambitious project and made me feel at home in Mexico City. As well, I offer thanks to Ana Vila Freyer for sharing her great knowledge and many practical insights into my research topic, Anaily Castellanos Valderrama for research assistance, Gema Santamaría for help v at crucial times, and James Robinson and Sandra Borda for their feedback and encouragement on my research. At the Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, my thanks to Professors Miguel Moctezuma and Rodolfo García Zamora for advising me so generously during my field work in Zacatecas. In the Dominican Republic, Mary Elizabeth Rodriguez at the Fundación Global de Desarrollo y Democracía deserves special thanks for enabling me to access the institute‘s library, resources and events. Eve Hayes at InterDom helped me adapt to Santo Domingo‘s unique social and physical infrastructure. Edward Gonzalez-Acosta generously provided expert feedback and shared valuable research contacts. Among these, Arq. Henry Estévez Santos of the municipal administration of La Vega greatly aided my research in arranging and accompanying me to nine interviews in La Vega. Brown University and the Consortium for Qualitative Research Methods supported my participation in the training institute at Arizona State University. Thank you to Professors James Mahoney and Melani Cammett for reading my early work, introducing me to qualitative historical analysis, and supporting my presentation of the case study research to the Society for Comparative Research at Harvard University in 2008. At the Watson Institute, the vibrant intellectual environment and the dedicated group of scholars and staff helped me to launch the project and get traction at key moments. Thank you to Katrina Burgess, José Itzigsohn and Robert Smith for insight and encouragement. Geoffrey Kirkman has my gratitude for encouraging me to study the Dominican Republic, which not only generated a paradigmatic case of overseas elections but also grounded the research in Providence and opened it up to the fascinating field of Caribbean studies. Thank you to Susan Costa and Zelia Silveira for logistical help and friendly support. Special thanks to my other East Side supporters Uncle Hal Hamilton, Professor Luiz Valente, Dr. Scott Johnston and Koji Masutani. The dissertation builds on earlier studies: my teachers at SAIS, Carleton, and Taft have been in my thoughts many times in recent years. You know who you are – and now I'll be in touch again. To Dr. Michael Levy, I am grateful for my first applied lessons in political science over a decade ago in Washington and for your support since then. My parents made key contributions as only they could. Thank you each and all: to my mother, for being there when I needed you; to my step-mother, for pushing me to write my applications; to my father, for reminding me to glance out periodically at the larger picture on our tattered earth.