Forthcoming book and Foreign Affairs piece

Later this year, Princeton University Press will publish our book “Migration and Democracy: How Remittances Undermine Dictatorship.” (with Abel Escribà-Folch and Joseph Wright). Migration and Democracy focuses on the effects of worker remittances—money sent by migrants back to their home countries—and how these resources shape political action in the Global South. Remittances are not only the largest source of foreign income in most autocratic countries, but also, in contrast to foreign aid or international investment, flow directly to citizens. As a result, they provide resources that make political opposition possible, and they decrease government dependency, undermining the patronage strategies underpinning authoritarianism. In advance of the publication and as International Remittance Day approaches, Foreign Affairs published this article summarizing the main findings of our research.