Social movements and international migration: The Mexican diaspora seeks inclusion in Mexico's political affairs, 1968-1998

This dissertation follows a social movement from its activation to its successful concluding stages to formulate a mobilization model that considers emergence, development and outcomes as integrative elements of the process within which multinational mobilization unfolded. The vote movement, led jointly by Mexican migrants in the United States and a Mexican opposition party, sought to redress regulations that limited the immigrants' participation in Mexico's elections.; The research documents the activation of this case of mobilization as a spin-off of a movement dormant since the 1970s. The Partido de la Revolucion Democratica (PRD) emerged after Mexico's ruling party underwent crises during the 1980's that resulted in its fragmentation. Thereafter, and following the establishment of a multinational coalition between the PRD and the insurgent diaspora, the vote movement gained sustained momentum.; After demonstrating that these binational conditions propitiated the emergence of the movement, the research shows that the PRD acted as official mediator, advancing the insurgents demands within Mexico's legislative chambers. This party became the leader of an unprecedented bilateral legislative debate on migration that transformed the conceptualization of the topic among Mexico's polity. Formerly, Mexico's attention to migration matters centered on the protection of human and labor rights of international migrants in the host country, but after the PRD entered the debate arena, ruling and opposition parties alike began to consider the rights of Mexican migrants both in their receiving and sending country. Although the ruling party embraced and sustained a restrictive bilateral position as a result of this reconceptualization of migration affairs, the research did not document pronounced polarization among political parties regarding this matter. Rather, it revealed a measured yet consistent change toward bilateralism. These transformations, combined with an unfolding international scenario that threatened the diaspora, led to the passage of bilateral policy in Mexico designed to protect these migrants.; Finally, data show that successful outcomes are not reducible to literal expressions of victory. Even though the political rights of Mexicans remained subject of debate, in becoming political actors, migrant activists generated transformation, gained official recognition and directly negotiated with Mexico's polity, thus participating in a successful movement.