Bringing Autocracy Home? How Migration to Autocracies Shapes Migrants’ Support for Democracy
2026-01-24
abstract: Prior scholarship finds that migrants embrace democratic ideals and promote democracy back home, but this work focuses on migration to high-income Western democracies. How does moving to autocracies shape migrants’ democratic attitudes and behavior? Leveraging a field experiment facilitating migration from India to the Persian Gulf, the authors isolate the causal impact of migration on migrants’ political preferences. After migrating, treated individuals exhibited significantly higher trust in Indian democratic institutions and greater political participation—except for voting, which is difficult to do from abroad. Additionally, they were no more willing to trade democracy for economic growth than control group subjects. The treatment group’s political preferences stem from comparing their experiences under democratic and, as migrants, autocratic governments. The findings suggest that migrants value democracy for its political benefits, which outweigh preferences for higher economic development. This article clarifies the mechanisms by which migration shapes preferences for democracy and sheds light on how migration to autocracies shapes politics in sending regions more generally.