Authoritarian governance of overseas citizen - Call for papers
This project aims to bring together country and regional specialists, migration and diaspora scholars who are engaged in research on the authoritarian governance of overseas citizens, in order to facilitate comparison and conceptualization, leading to a coherent joint publication as an edited volume.
One of the defining features of the governance of the Soviet bloc during the Cold War was the ‘Iron Curtain’: citizens were not free to travel or migrate to democratic countries. On the other hand, sending dissidents into permanent exile was a central plank of the policies used by General Pinochet of Chile to maintain political control. Authoritarianism research, whilst giving much attention to (lack of) voice and loyalty, has not, since Hirschman, been much concerned with the – possibly changing – consequences of exit.
Nowadays, authoritarian states are much more likely to allow citizens to travel or migrate, but also return freely, and citizens of for instance Russia, China or the Gulf states make ample use of these freedoms. Some authoritarian states positively encourage their youth to study abroad, whilst others rely on remittances. Evidence suggests that many governments, including authoritarian governments, have in recent years begun to design deliberate policies to appeal to and govern their overseas citizens. Yet while many citizens living overseas may be apolitical and/or patriotic, they can also be politically active in ways that are threatening to authoritarian regimes.
Central questions
Central questions that should be addressed include:
- What are the genesis and motivations for policies towards overseas citizens?
- What tools are used (for instance patriotic appeals, targeted media, surveillance, control of civil society organisations, religious institutions)?
- To what extent and in what ways are there specifically authoritarian policies or tools of overseas governance, that distinguish themselves from democratic ones?
- Is there evidence of authoritarian learning in this area?
- What are the implications of policies governing citizens outside the territory for our conceptualization of authoritarianism?
Process
Based on abstracts received, ten scholars will be invited to submit full papers and participate in a two day authors’ meeting on 17-18 September 2015, alongside several researchers who are part of the Authoritarianism in a Global Age project, and also engage in this type of research. During this meeting, a common theoretical framework will be elaborated, and the draft papers will each be discussed. Depending on the participants’ interests, plans for future research collaboration may also be discussed.
Subsequently, a revised set of papers with a new introduction will be submitted to a leading press as an edited volume by December 2015.
Funding
Travel and hotel costs are funded by the project.
Deadlines
Abstracts (max 300 words) 20 March 2015; Full Papers 4 Sept 2015
Outputs
Expert seminar, Amsterdam, 17-18 Sept 2015; Edited Volume, 2016.
Context
This initiative is part of the ERC-funded project Authoritarianism in a Global Age, Principal Investigator Marlies Glasius. It is funded by an IDCAR Network Seed Funding Grant.
Contact
Meta De Lange m.m.delange@uva.nl