Access to citizenship

1
Co-financed by the European Fund for the
Integration of Third-Country Nationals
Access to citizenship its impact on immigrant
integration (ACIT) Citizenship acquisition and
political participation of immigrants in Europe

2
Socialization, Naturalization and Immigrant
Political Participation in Europe the Puzzle

• Research question is there an independent role
  of citizenship in the process of re-socialization
  of first generation immigrants?
• The case of non-electoral political
  participation Legal activities by private
  citizens which are more or less directly aimed at
  influencing the selection of government personnel
  and/or the actions they take
• Conventional unconventional

Cf. Verba Nie, 1972
3
Re-socialization Theories

• Resistance - changes unlikely after formative
  years.
• Pre-migration experiences
• Exposure - adaptation depends on exposure to the
  new political environment
• Length of residence citizenship
• Transferability early traits can be adapted by
  later experiences ? lifelong learning.
• Pre-migration post-migration experiences
  combined ? Similar systems make transition easier
• Relation naturalisation and participation
  conditioned by the democratic experience in the
  country of origin.

4
Data Methods

• European Social Survey
• Pooled dataset of waves 1-5 (2002-2010)
• 16 European countries
• First generation immigrants
• Persons born outside test country and whose both
  parents were also born abroad
• Arrived in test country at/after age of 18
• N9978
• Multi-level analysis

5
Measures of political participation
6
Results I(without controlling for additional
factors)
Participation Natives Immigrants with citizenship Immigrants with citizenship Immigrants without citizenship Immigrants without citizenship
Democracy Autocracy/ partial democracy Democracy Autocracy/ partial democracy
Conventional 30.5 26.2 21.4 21.1 13.3
Unconventional 39.7 45.3 33.6 39.4 17.6
7
Results I(without controlling for additional
factors)
Participation Natives Immigrants with citizenship Immigrants with citizenship Immigrants without citizenship Immigrants without citizenship
Democracy Autocracy/ partial democracy Democracy Autocracy/ partial democracy
Conventional 30.5 26.2 21.4 21.1 13.3
Unconventional 39.7 45.3 33.6 39.4 17.6
8
Political participation by immigrants by years of
residence and democratic status of country of
origin
Conventional Participation
Unconventional Participation
9
Political participation by immigrants by years of
residence and citizenship status
Conventional Participation
Unconventional participation
10
Concluding remarks

• Re-socialization takes place time matters
• Conventional participation is driven by political
  context of the country of destination
• Un-conventional participation is driven by the
  political context of the country of origin
• The significance of the context of political
  socialization will depend on the nature of the
  political participation
• Independent but limited role of citizenship in
  this process
• ? Naturalization increases exposure to the
  democratic process, but is no magical solution
  for political engagement