Two paths towards the exceptional extension of national voting rights to non-citizen residents

• Published in: Journal of ethnic and migration studies Vol. 49; no. 10; pp. 2541 - 2560
• Main Authors: Altman, David, Huertas-Hernández, Sergio, Sánchez, Clemente T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 15.06.2023; Carfax Publishing Company, Abingdon Science Park
• Subjects: Citizens; Citizenship; Civil rights; democracy; immigration; Liberalization; Non-citizen residents; Noncitizens; Residents; Voting rights; New Zealand; Ecuador; Chile; Malawi; Uruguay
• ISSN: 1369-183X; 1469-9451
• DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2023.2182713

Only five countries have extended universal voting rights to non-citizen residents for all political spheres (local, intermediate and national): Uruguay in 1934, New Zealand in 1975, Chile in 1980, Malawi in 1994, and Ecuador in 2008. These cases constitute a unique intercontinental medley and an opportunity to study the conditions behind such revolutionary change. Through a calibrated comparative strategy based on most similar system designs (inspired by Mill's method of difference) using QCA, this paper finds that the extension of national voting rights to non-citizen residents transpired in two distinct scenarios. The first setting (Chile, New Zealand, and Uruguay) took place within unitary states with already-existing local voting rights for non-citizen residents and settler trajectories, but that were not undergoing a liberalisation process. On the other hand, the second configuration (Ecuador and Malawi) developed within unitary states that recognised nationality by ius soli and were going through a process of liberalisation, but without previous local voting rights for non-citizen residents or a settler trajectory. To our best knowledge, this paper offers the first cross-national explanation that involves all cases that have broadened their respective political communities (demoi) to include national voting rights to all non-citizen residents.