| Description |
The research project ‘Arab Overseas Voting’ aims to contribute to the academic literature and policy discussion on overseas voting by drawing the attention on Arab migrant communities in the EU participating in the elections of their country of origin. It adopts an interdisciplinary and comparative approach that builds on historical and current contrasts between two major Arab labour sending countries (Tunisia and Morocco) and between two key EU receiving countries (France and Italy).
Overseas voting is a worldwide trend. It is considered as a migrants’ right, and as contributing positively to democratization and development. However, the academic literature on overseas voting is still at an initial stage, in particular in Arab and African countries.
The context of the project is that of momentous political changes in the Arab World, and increasing migration flows between North Africa and the EU since two decades. The general objective of the project is to assess why and how states enfranchise non-resident citizens, and under which conditions and for what purposes the latter participate in elections of their country of origin. In a policy perspective, the project aim to assess if, and under which conditions, overseas voting should be included in common migration policy frameworks, including the EU Global Approach to Migration and Mobility (GAMM). The project responds to EU demands to further investigate the governance of migration, in particular temporary migration; and social and political changes in Arab countries, in particular empowering young generation in context of political transition.
With the aim of fulfilling such objective, ‘Arab Overseas Voting’ will pursue the following interrelated research objectives: patterns for adopting overseas voting; extensive versus restrictive voting rules; voters’ turnout; and voting behaviour, with a focus on age, gender, legal status differences.
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