Within a wealth of literature on the subject of the social and political participation of immigrants little has been said about the issue of the mount of immigrants’ engagement in immigrant organizations and its conditions. This paper, based on analysis of CAWI survey of 3500 Polish immigrants describes participations of Poles abroad in Polish immigrant organizations. It also defines three sets of factors determining the amount of engagement. The analysis of empirical data shows that the engagement of Poles abroad in activities of Polish immigrant organizations is limited. Hypotheses concerning factors determining participation in Polish immigrant organizations has been positively verified. Both previous experience of social participation in Poland as well as contemporary experience in country of residence positively influence engagement in Polish immigrant organizations. Also the relation between the country of residence, length of stay, as well as the year of with the level of activity in Polish immigrant organizations emigration has been observed. The participation in those organizations tends also to be influenced by such characteristics of a migrant like: age, size of the locality in which a migrant lives after migration, and type of professional activity. Only two of the assumed variables: size of the origin locality and material situation have not been related to participations of Poles abroad in Polish immigrant organizations.
The presence of an extensive number of Polish immigrants in Ireland has a short history, which began after Poland’s accession to the EU. Therefore, the organizations that have been set up since 2004 were to a high degree built up with no or little impact of the existing tradition of immigrant structures and institutions. This makes Ireland a specific laboratory for testing a new model of immigrants’ organization of the 21st century. The article aims to describe the development of Polish immigrant organizations in Ireland and to present their characteristics, including their goals, activities, the role of new media and technology, as well as the patterns of participation and communication. The detailed presentation of these characteristics and case studies serves the goal of answering the question: if and to what extent “young” Polish immigrant organizations in Ireland can be seen as the forerunners of a new model of immigrants’ organization of the 21st century.
Often in themigration literature transnational relations ofmigrants and their institutions with the sending country are described as important factor strengthening or improving the situation of the migrants in the receiving country. The aim of the paper is to empirically prove that in some of the cases the set of multiple conditions affecting immigrant organizations may have the opposite effect. The example of Polish organizations in Germany shows that transnationalization may have as a consequence the limiting, and the degradation of immigrant organizations standing. The four analyzed factors determining the situation of Polish immigrant associational in Germany: the characteristics of immigrant group, the policy of the receiving country towards immigration and IOs, the diaspora policy of the sending country, as well as the bilateral relations between the sending and receiving country together constitute a combination that has a strong negative effect on the functioning of Polish organizations. This all produces an impression of falling into the “trap of transnationalism.”
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