Chapter 7 “Conclusion and Discussion” summarizes the findings of this dissertation, discusses the main limitations of the study and path the way for future
2. Setting the Context: Multicultural Democracies
2.4 France, Germany and the United Kingdom
2.4.3 The Immigrant Electorate
2.4.3.2 Immigrants Prefer Immigrant Representatives
The question of whether minority groups should be represented by individuals of the same group has been subject to extended political debates over decades. It is argued that descriptive representatives represent better the citizens that are like them in contexts of inter-group mistrust and when the interest of these groups are not addressed by existent political actors. In these contexts, having representatives that share attributes and experiences with some sub-groups of the electorate facilitates communication and helps bringing particular interests and concerns to the political agenda. Also, in democracies that have a history of political subordination or where there is low legitimacy having minority representatives favors political inclusion and decreases the feelings of political alienation of minorities (Mansbridge 1999, Banducci et al. 2004).
24 Germany combines single-member constituencies with proportional representation.
The effects of having immigrant candidates and representatives on the attitudes and preferences of the immigrant electorate are manifold. First, it has been showed that in the US the presence of Latino candidates mobilizes the Latino electorate, increasing voter turnout and resulting in strong support for co-ethnic candidates (Barreto 2007). Also the presence of Latino representatives in the congress and senate are associated with lower levels of political alienation among Latino constituents. The presence of immigrant candidates and representatives plays an empowering role among immigrant voters (Pantoja and Segura 2003). So all in all, in contexts of increasing ethnic and cultural diversity party competition and the strategies followed by individual parties when they nominate immigrant candidates also contribute to the formation of an immigrant electorate (Pantoja et al. 2001, Pantoja and Segura 2003.) and ultimately to the quality of multicultural democracies.
These dynamics are not only observed in the American context but they are increasingly more and more spreading across Western European democracies. In Germany, following the liberalization of the citizenship regime in 1999 a rapid enlargement of the immigrant electorate occurred. In this new political landscape the percentage of immigrant candidates (non-ethnic Germans) in the legislative elections rapidly increased (Claro da Fonseca 2011). In the general election of 1998 previous to Law immigrant candidates of non-German origin scored only one fifth of the total number of naturalized candidates. In the 2002 election the percentage of immigrant candidates of non-German origin almost doubled and by 2005 it represented almost half of all the naturalized immigrants. First and second-generation Turks constitute a majority of these immigrant candidates, which corresponds to a great extent to the occurring demographic changes in the immigrant electorate (Claro da Fonseca 2011: 120-121). These electoral dynamics in turn remain susceptible of affecting voting preferences among immigrant voters, yet the relationship between the nomination of immigrant candidates and
the voting behavior remain largely unexplored across Western European democracies.
Empirical evidence suggests that immigrant voters want more immigrant representatives. The Immigrant Citizens Survey25 conducted among migrant respondents in France and Germany shows that the majority of immigrants consider that there should be more members of parliament with migratory background (Figure 9). In France 75,7 percent (95% CI [70.3, 81.10]) of the immigrants respondents would like to have more immigrant deputies in the National Assembly. Alike, in Germany, four out of five (95% CI [78,82.9]) immigrant voters would prefer having more representatives of immigrant origin in the Bundestag.
25 http://www.immigrantsurvey.org/
Figure 15.Opinions of Immigrant and Native Voters on whether there should be more Immigrant-origin
Deputies26
Sources: Immigrant voters’ opinions extracted from The Immigrant Citizen Survey27. Native Voters: 2006 Eurobarometer on Discrimination in the EU - The Eurobarometer Special 263 QA8.
Captivatingly, in France native voters are favorable to having more immigrant MPs but not in Germany. A majority of French voters (66 percent) perceives that there should be more immigrant representatives in the parliament, yet they consider so to a lesser extent than immigrant voters do in France (ten percent less).
In contrast, the majority of German voters oppose the idea of having more
26 Sources: Immigrant voters’ opinions extracted from The Immigrant Citizen Survey26. Native Voters: 2006 Eurobarometer on Discrimination in the EU - The Eurobarometer Special 263 QA8.
27 France (Immigrant Voters N=242, 95% CI [70.3, 81.10]/Native Voters N= 1009, 95% CI [63.8, 68.9]) and Germany (Immigrant Voters N=1000, 95% CI [78,82.9]/ Native Voters N=
1570, 95% CI [32.6, 37]).
parliamentarians of immigrant origin. In Germany only 35 percent of the native voters, that is less than the half of immigrant voters in Germany, would like to have representatives of the immigrant minority. This cross-national comparison sheds light on two facts: the similarities in terms of political preferences among immigrants across countries, and the differences on attitudes of the native population. Further empirical evidence supports the observation that immigrants have favorable attitudes towards immigrant candidates. An experimental survey conducted in France by Brouard and Tiberj (2011: 171) between immigrant and native French voters shows that both groups would vote for an immigrant candidate of their preferred party. Yet, the authors show that ethnic proximity has a mobilizing effect among immigrant voters as it influences their vote also beyond their partisan preferences (2011: 171).
To the question of why would immigrant voters like to have more immigrant representatives survey data provides some answers28. Basically, the vast majority of immigrant voters in France think that having more immigrant parliamentarians is symbolically important, followed by close by the consideration that immigrant representatives would better represent their interests. In Germany, little more than a half of the immigrant voters consider that immigrant MPs would better represent them, and in second place that it is symbolically important to have more immigrant minorities in the Bundestag.