When Exit Drowns Out Voice: Migration and Political Disengagement in Rural India

• In Event: Rural Politics in South Asia

Abstract

Past scholarship on transnational immigration offers competing predictions about the impact of outward migration on political change in origin areas. Some studies view migration as a catalyst for political activism among those left behind, facilitated by financial remittances and the diffusion of new political ideas and civic norms. Yet, other accounts suggest that migration, by depleting origin areas of their most politically active citizens and increasing reliance on unearned foreign income, diminishes local political engagement. I test which of these competing predictions holds true for internal economic migration, a phenomenon that affects three times as many people as transnational immigration. To do so, I use data gathered from focus groups, in-depth interviews, and an original survey of 2,012 rural households in Madhubani, Bihar, a high migration corridor in Eastern India. I find that households exposed to migration through an immediate family member exhibit significantly lower propensity to participate in local civic activities, including diminished voter turnout, decreased involvement in campaign activities, and limited attendance at community meetings. However, I find that return migrants themselves evince significantly higher political engagement during the campaign season compared to non-migrants. To explore potential mechanisms underlying these findings, I turn to evidence from moderation analysis to show that an upsurge in remittance inflows within migrant households is robustly correlated with a reduction in claim-making for state-provided welfare benefits. I draw on a priming experiment to further demonstrate that long distance communication with the migrant dampens feelings of internal efficacy among non-migrating household members. These findings suggest that mass economic migration, by inducing a 'political brain drain' and potentially subjecting origin areas to a resource curse, imposes disproportionately high political costs on the rural hinterland.

Author

• Shashwat Dhar, Vanderbilt University