Caught between nationalism and transnationalism: How Central and East European states respond to East–West emigration

Abstract

This article seeks to explain the varied policy responses to the large wave of emigration from Central and Eastern European states during the last two decades, focusing on the cases of Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland. Differing degrees of emigrant engagement by these states are explained by the role of internal minorities as active members of the emigrant population and the overall political and demographic relevance of historical kin. This study contributes to our understanding of what shapes state policies towards different types of external populations. It also highlights the particular challenges of state-led transnational engagement in a supranational border regime.

The Costs of Austerity: Labor Emigration and the Rise of Radical Right Politics in Central and Eastern Europe

“…One of the fundamental rights granted to citizens of the EU, and of the EFTA, is the right to move and work freely throughout the EU and EFTA (Eurostat, 2018 ). For this reason, inter-EU migrants represent a special category of migration—because of their EU/EFTA citizenship status, they are not reliant on visas to migrate and cannot easily be denied the right to work (Waterbury, 2018 ). According to (Eurostat, 2018 ), in 2017, at least five out of every 100 EU/EFTA citizens were residing in another EU/EFTA nation than the one they were born in, an increase from 2007 when it was about 3.5% of the EU/EFTA population.…”

“…In sum, one of the most significant trends in Europe since the 2008 financial crisis has been the movement of people from east to west. However, this emigration is all the more interesting in that it appears, at least for now, to consist mostly of the permanent relocation of educated young people (Waterbury, 2018 ). Some scholars have viewed this east-to-west migration as an indictment of the corruption and ineptitude of many Central and Eastern European governments; in fact, according to World Bank rankings, the Soviet successor states remain among the most corrupt in the world (Holmes, 2013 ; Waterbury, 2018 ).…”

“…However, this emigration is all the more interesting in that it appears, at least for now, to consist mostly of the permanent relocation of educated young people (Waterbury, 2018 ). Some scholars have viewed this east-to-west migration as an indictment of the corruption and ineptitude of many Central and Eastern European governments; in fact, according to World Bank rankings, the Soviet successor states remain among the most corrupt in the world (Holmes, 2013 ; Waterbury, 2018 ). However, it has also been widely attributed to a lack of economic opportunity in the sending nations (Waterbury, 2018 ).…”

How do countries of origin engage migrants and diasporas? Multiple actors and comparative perspectives

“…The post-communist politics of external engagement with ethnic diasporas and internal struggles over national identity privileged or excluded specific subsets of the citizenry abroad. Waterbury analyses and compares the institutional position of intra-EU emigrants within the states' diaspora management frameworks, and the degree of integration of recent emigrants into a transnational political rights framework encompassing dual citizenship and external voting (Waterbury, 2018). …”

“…Waterbury’s ‘Caught between nationalism and transnationalism: How Central and East European states respond to East-West emigration’ (2018) seeks to explain the political and policy responses to the large waves of post-1990 migration. The policy responses to emigration from Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Poland have been shaped and constrained by political and institutional structures driven by these states’ relationships to populations of historical kin in neighbouring states and, in some cases, to internal minority communities.…”