Urban newcomers as candidates in rural municipal elections: Explorations in the political dimension of lifestyle migration

Abstract

The lived experience and the transformative effects of urban-to-rural lifestyle migration are key research interests of rural studies, but we know little about what happens when urban dwellers make use of their local voting rights after relocating to rural areas. The paper presents insights from ethnographic explorations in a peripherialized rural region of Czechia in which social and spatial disadvantages intersect. Using an agency framework to bring the scholarship of lifestyle migration into conversation with the literature on transforming modes of political participation, the paper investigates how lifestyle migration affects the subjective perceptions and practical enactment of political agency among both lifestyle migrants and other rural residents. The findings show that lifestyle migration into rural peripheries widens the room to manoeuvre for the newcomers and highlights the role electoral tools play in the emergence of new formations of local citizenship. However, when lifestyle migrants emerge as political actors, this can also trigger uncertainties, social distinctions and local power struggles. The contribution is intended to stimulate further conceptual work towards a nuanced understanding of the political realm of urban-to-rural lifestyle migration and point out promising avenues for further research.