While completing his PhD research on democracy and social movements in Latin America, Pascal Lupien came across a practice that has captured his imagination ever since.
"Participatory budgeting," which he says emerged in Brazil in 1989, involves community members collectively deciding on the spending priorities of local publicly funded budgets.
In addition to bringing about significant quality of life improvements, the exercise enables citizens and non-citizens alike to have a voice where they may not have had one before, says the Associate Professor of Political Science.
"People from marginalized communities start to understand how government works," he says. "They develop a sense of political efficacy. They start to know how to develop a budget, which agency to go to for services and where to make a complaint if somebody is not respecting their rights."
Lupien is integrating this and other concepts into his latest research project, "Political Participation and Migrants: A Comparative Study of Mechanisms and Strategies For Making Migrants' Voices Heard."
Funded by an Insight Grant from the Government of Canada's Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Lupien and his team are studying how non-citizen migrants and their community associations can most effectively engage in political life.
The international research team, whose members are mostly of African descent, is analyzing policies and conducting interviews with government officials, migrants and migrant association leaders in Montreal, Canada; Lisbon, Spain; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and São Paulo, Brazil.
The team is concentrating on migrants who have African roots, says Lupien.
"Research across different countries in Latin America and elsewhere has shown that Afro-descendant peoples are the most discriminated against minority group," he says. "Indigenous minorities have made some gains, particularly in parts of Latin America, but nobody really seems to pay attention to Afro-descendant peoples."
Foundational to the team's research is the understanding that migrants have the right to "some kind of voice representation regardless of citizenship status," Lupien says, such as their inclusion in participatory budgeting.
Yet, they are frequently denied political rights such as employment and educational opportunities, public sector decision-making and civic participation, he adds.
Lupien says the researchers aim to:
- Uncover challenges migrants experience when they advocate for their rights.
- Identify ways migrants and migrant associations can most effectively pursue common goals.
- Determine optimal strategies for migrants and migrant associations to influence public policies.
- Ascertain the best formal and informal channels through which migrants can interact with government authorities
The team's work is particularly urgent and timely, says Lupien, given the rise of anti-migrant sentiments in the countries being studied and around the world.
