The politics left behind: how pre-migration and migration experiences shape Syrian refugees’ interest in home-county politics

For those fleeing violent political conflict home-country politics may be uniquely challenging. Given the high stakes which refugees are more likely to engage in home country politics? This article focuses on two sets of factors: experiences of hardship in the context of emigration, transiting and settling to their destination country; and the ongoing social ties to family and friends left behind. For our analysis, we draw on a recently collected nationally representative survey of Syrian refugees in Canada (N = 1974). We find that among those resettled in Canada, experiences of hardships in Syria and while in transit in their interim country are associated with less engagement in the political affairs of Syria. On the other hand, those who have a harder time settling into life in Canada also tend to remain more interested in home-country politics. In contrast to some findings in research on labour migrants, those who maintain close personal ties to friends and family back in Syria remain more engaged with politics. Together, the findings highlight the unique pressures refugees face and the role these pressures may have on continued interest in the political affairs of their home country after migrating.