Who Participates in Transnational Political Activities and Why?

Thanks in great part to advancements in the technology of transportation and telecommunication, today's immigrants find it much easier than did past immigrants to take part in a wide variety of transnational political activities. Recent studies, however, show that relatively a small subset of the immigrant population in the United States is involved in transnational political practices. Why are some immigrants involved in cross-border political activities, while others are not? Drawing on data from a survey of 1202 Latino immigrants, the proposed study intends to identify the characteristics of those who participate in cross-border political activities and explain why they do so. To address the questions, this study focuses on two observations. First, immigrants in general are in need of extra encouragement to help offset their lack of resources so as to participate in transnational political activities. Mobilization efforts by governments of the sending countries are expected to play an important role in increasing the level of involvement in immigrants' transnational activities. Second, research reveals that transnational political activities are gendered and primarily carried out by male immigrants, who wish to compensate for their loss of status in the host country. This suggests that transnational political activities are largely an instrumentally motivated adaptation strategy immigrants employ to promote their sense of self-worth facing the loss of status in the host society. The proposed study will build on those observations to better explain why immigrants participate in cross-border political practices. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]