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ORGANIZED MIGRANTS AND ACCOUNTABILITY FROM AFAR

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Katrina Burgess
Katrina Burgess*
Affiliation:
Fletcher School, Tufts University
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Abstract

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This article contributes to a growing literature on the ways in which migrants are shaping democracy back home. Its empirical lens is Mexico's “Three-for-One” (3×1) Program, in which each level of the Mexican government provides matching grants for community projects solicited and financed by migrant hometown associations (HTAs), primarily in the United States. Based on an original data set constructed from key informant interviews and household surveys in sixty Mexican communities, it uses descriptive statistics, multivariate regressions, and qualitative case narratives to explore the relationship between migrant involvement in the 3×1 Program and accountable governance at the local level. Its central finding is that migrants are most likely to act as effective agents of accountability when they are embedded in translocal networks with local residents.

Resumen

RESUMEN

Este artículo contribuye a una creciente literatura sobre el impacto de los migrantes en la calidad de la democracia en sus países de origen. Su lente empírica es el programa mexicano “Tres por Uno” (3×1), en la que cada nivel del gobierno mexicano otorga donaciones para proyectos comunitarios solicitados y financiados por clubes de oriundos, principalmente en los Estados Unidos. Basado en un conjunto de datos original construido a partir de entrevistas a informantes clave y encuestas de hogares en sesenta comunidades mexicanas, utiliza la estadística descriptiva, regresiones multivariantes, y narraciones de casos cualitativos para explorar la relación entre la participación de los migrantes en el Programa 3×1 y la rendición de cuentas en el ámbito local. Su principal conclusión es que los migrantes tienen más probabilidades de actuar como agentes eficaces de rendición de cuentas cuando se insertan en redes translocales con los residentes locales.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 51 , Issue 2 , 2016 , pp. 150 - 173
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

I am grateful to Merilee Grindle, Stephan Haggard, Clarisa Pérez Armendáriz, and several anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article, which 1 presented at the UCLA Migration Studies Group, the 2010 Annual Meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, and the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at UC San Diego. I am also deeply indebted to my research teams, particularly Beatriz Tinajero, Rodolfo Córdova, Mireya Torres, and Liz Yepsen, whose work was made possible by generous funding from the Tinker Foundation, the Civic Engagement Research Group and the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and the Global Equity Initiative at Harvard University.

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