Download Associational and Political Participation in European Cities

Are Migrants and their Children
Politically Included? Associational and
Political Participation in European Cities
Dr. Laura Morales
(University of Murcia & University of
Manchester)
Sponsored by:
• Notion of political integration is
complex and multifaceted.
• Political integration includes more than
just voting rights and electoral
participation.
• It encompasses several forms of
participatory engagement and attitudes
and orientations to the main political
‘objects’.
Individual-level data: the survey to 1,200 individuals
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Telephone survey in Lyon, Milan (for autochthonous group), and
Zurich/Geneva, 40 mins.
F2F survey in Budapest, Madrid, Milan (for migrant groups), and
London, 45-60 mins.
Focusing primarily on political attitudes, political behaviour, and
associational engagement.
But with many sections on: SES, migration process, legal status,
religion, language command, trust, perceptions about attitudes towards
migrants, discrimination, inter-group tolerance, social contacts,
transnational practices, feelings of identity, etc.
An example: Migrants are generally less interested in the host-country
politics than the native population. But cross-city and cross-group
variations are relevant.
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Interest in the politics of the country of residence:
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Large differences across migrant groups mostly
across cities, with relative similarity within cities (i.e.
the local context matters most).
Migrant groups of the same national origin that live
in different cities show substantially different levels of
political interest (e.g. Ecuadorians, Moroccans and
Turks).
In some cities the gaps between the levels of
political interest of the autochthonous population and
the migrant groups is very large (e.g. Milan,Oslo,
Zurich, Geneva, and Stockholm).
• Electoral availability (intention to vote in local
elections if granted right):
- Generally high and similar levels of interest in
voting, but interesting that in some cities
migrants find it of reduced appeal to vote
(Budapest & Oslo).
- Generally higher interest in voting in countries
where they don’t have voting rights now
(Spain, Switzerland)
- Important gaps remain between
autochthonous and migrant groups in some
cities (e.g. Milan,Oslo, Budapest).
• Confidence in political institutions (city
government and national parliament):
- Measured in a 0-10 scale.
- Relatively similar levels of confidence in city
government across cities and groups
(average values between 5 and 7). In many
cases migrant groups are more trusting than
the autochthonous.
- Very similar results for trust in the national
parliament.
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Non-electoral political participation (illustration with
contacting and protesting):
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Asked about participation in the previous 12
months.
Contacting: large variations across contexts in levels
of contacting, usually migrants show similar
propensities across groups within cities, but very
often with large gaps with respect to the
autochthonous population (esp. Oslo & Milan).
Protesting: similar patterns to contacting with regard
to migrants having similar levels of protest within a
city, but again large gaps with respect to
autochthonous though not always in the same cities
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Associational involvement (membership or
participation in activities):
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Involvement in any type of association (from a long
list of 12 types).
Very large differences across cities, and also
substantial differences within cities across migrant
groups in several cities.
Large gaps in several cities with autochthonous
population (Milan, Geneva, Zurich, Oslo), moderate
in Madrid, Lyon and Stockholm.
Important differences for the same group across
cities: particularly Moroccans in Barcelona & Madrid,
Turkish in Oslo & Stockholm.
In summary
• Political integration does not operate equally
for all of its dimensions: migrants generally well
integrated in terms of attitudes and
orientations, but not so much in terms of
participatory behaviour.
• The city context has a substantial impact in
shaping the capacity of individual migrants to
become integrated in the public arena. The
same migrant groups behave very different
across contexts and generally within the same
city there are limited variations across the
groups studied.