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In short Many current challenges, such as overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic, migration, or climate change, require political action that goes beyond the national level and requires broad public legitimacy. If the values that underpin the policy-making process do not match the values and attitudes that prevail in society, the rules are not followed, or people express their dissatisfaction in protest. On highly polarizing issues, when political decisions involve choosing in favour of one side or another, it is almost impossible for policymakers to base their decisions on the conflicting attitudes and values of the entire population. In a democratic society, the key to this challenge is transparency and openness in the decision-making process. The different dimensions of values and attitudes that characterize a particular society should be considered when explaining the decisions made, facts and political decisions are not value neutral. Policy makers and the media and need to be careful about confronting different identity groups, as this exacerbates conflicts and makes decision-making more difficult. In the policy-making process, one way to avoid conflict and confrontation between two groups is to find another, unifying identity or unifying value that underpins the political message. In Latvia, one of the unifying values of society is the family and family relationships as a value.

The aim of this paper is to answer the question of what factors lead to an increase in perceived discrimination in the workplace among highly educated Latvian women abroad. Although highly educated migrant women are privileged with regard to education, nonetheless, they face discrimination, lower wages, inferior working conditions, de-skilling and brain waste while working abroad. Based on the discussion on the relationship between sociocultural integration and discriminatory practices or perceived discrimination, and two competing theoretical propositions regarding the effects of integration on perceptions and experiences of discrimination, the article tests if attachment to the host country is related to perceived discrimination at work. The data source used for the analysis is a subsample of a quantitative survey of Latvian emigrants. The subsample (n = 2332) includes Latvian women with a tertiary education who are first-generation emigrants from Latvia and who were working at the time of the survey. Results from binary logistic regression analyses reveal that a low attachment to the host country, financial difficulties coping with daily expenses, problems with recognition of an education certificate and lack of a written contract with the employer increase the likelihood of highly educated Latvian women abroad to claim unfair treatment in the workplace.

Contact restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic have contributed to the rapid expansion of remote work. With this expansion, new opportunities arise for the typical migrant-sending countries in Central and Eastern Europe to remotely involve their diaspora in their labor market. The aim of this paper is, by using the case study of Latvia, to show the potential of cross-border remote work for alleviating human capital losses caused by emigration. We assess the main obstacles and necessary adjustments in taxes, social benefits, labor market regulation and other areas to facilitate the labor market transition and show what incentives the country can use to become a place of choice for performing remote work for the diaspora. Combining the perspectives of employers, employees and the government, this study sheds new light on the challenges and opportunities related to the rise of remote work for countries suffering from emigration. The comprehensive analysis builds on triangulating secondary data, analysis of policy documents, a survey of employers, as well as a survey and in-depth interviews with cross-border remote workers.