Immigration and public support for political systems in Europe

Claassen, C. (2023) Immigration and public support for political systems in Europe. Perspectives on Politics, (doi: 10.1017/S1537592722004194) (Early Online Publication)

Abstract

Immigration and growing diversity have been linked with pathologies such as lower social capital, the rise of authoritarian populists, intergroup conflict, and perhaps the breakdown of democracy itself. At the heart of this complex is a question relating to migration and political culture: whether immigration erodes the attitudes that sustain and legitimize democratic political systems. This paper takes a time-series, cross-sectional approach to this question by analyzing the effects of a comprehensive set of measures of immigration on dynamic estimates of trust in democratic institutions, satisfaction with democracy, and democratic support from 30 European countries. The results show that immigration does not undermine any of these forms of public support for political systems. Indeed, under some circumstances, immigration may increase public trust in democratic institutions.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Early Online Publication
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Claassen, Professor Christopher
• Authors: Claassen, C.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
• Journal Name: Perspectives on Politics
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• ISSN: 1537-5927
• ISSN (Online): 1541-0986
• Published Online: 05 April 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Author
• First Published: First published in Perspectives on Politics 2023
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence