Argentina: The Politics of on-and-Off Inclusion of Emigrants

This paper examines Argentina’s approach to emigration in the past decade. It aims at explaining the motivation and timing of early attempts to reach out to citizens abroad, the launching of some concrete programs, and the management of relations with migrant associations, as well as the reasons why such attempts have lost momentum lately, thus turning into a selective, intermittent and somewhat neglectful approach towards the diaspora. This study not only explores one of the least-known cases in the literature but also identifies similarities and differences of this case with emigration policies implemented by neighboring countries in the Southern Cone, namely Uruguay and Brazil. The findings and analysis suggest that a close examination of diaspora policies in Latin American Southern Cone countries is necessary to unveil new explanatory factors and refine existing typologies.