This study explores the relationship between migration and political 'development' and asks the question 'how are migration movements and the expatriate communities they create connected to the possibility of enhanced political voice or the preservation of illiberal politics in sending countries?'. The thesis of this work is that politics of origin may be better understood by their extensions into transnational public spheres, because civil society, as a discursive space, may be more liberally grounded in migrant-receiving countries than in sending societies.