Are Cross-Border Practices a Threat to Democratic Participation among EU Citizens?

Abstract

Regional integration and the transportation and communications revolutions are changing the way individuals relate to place through increasing the opportunity for transnational movements, forming transnational bonds between individuals, and sustaining ties to the home country among those who migrate. Today, it is possible to live in a place physically while having one’s mind and consciousness elsewhere. Most significantly, EUCROSS findings demonstrate that EU citizens are engaged in a wider and more complex array of cross-border activities than most people believe (Salamonska et. al. 2013). If this process has a significant impact on a large number of people, it may be consequential for the social cohesion in actual physical locations—i.e. towns, cities or countries—and the quality of democracy. Do these cross-border activities jeopardize democracy by way of weakening incentives to participate in elections? Does the EU, by promoting an open and borderless society, also weakens itself in political terms? This policy brief addresses these questions by comparing political engagement of Europeans who lead transnational lives with those who do not. In doing so, it shows that individuals who lead more transnational lives participate at least as much in politics as those who are more anchored in their national societies.