Immigrant Participation in EU25: Opportunities and Obstacles

1. Opportunities and Obstacles to Immigrant Participation in EU25 – comparative introduction ELIAMEP Athens, 31 May 2007 POLITIS: Building Europe with New Citizens? An inquiry into civic participation of naturalized citizens and foreign residents in 25 countries; Supported by European Commission, 6th research framework, Citizens and governance in a knowledge-based society, 2004-2007 Contact: dita.vogel@uni-oldenburg.de

2. Why is immigrant participation in the civil society important? • Normative assumption: Democratic societies need active citizens from all groups of the population, including foreign born. • Projection: Due to aging societies and changing labour market needs, Europe will experience more immigration in the future. • Empirical observation: Immigrants are underrepresented in responsible positions of organisations of the receiving society (e.g. parties, NGOs). • Conclusion: There could be more participation, and this would be better for the societies. www.uni-oldenburg.de/politis-europe

3. POLITIS Research Objective • To get a better understanding of the processes how immigrants become active and stay active in the receiving societies • To understand encouraging and discouraging conditions for civic activation of immigrants in these processes www.uni-oldenburg.de/politis-europe

4. What shapes immigrant activism? Theoretical considerations • Individual factors (same as natives, e.g. level of education, role model in family, …) • Migration process (Interruption of activation chains) • Culture of country of origin (civic culture, religion, role of women etc.) • Societal opportunity structures of receiving country (laws, institutions, subsidies, discourses on immigration and on civic activism) www.uni-oldenburg.de/politis-europe

5. Country of Origin Influences: Opportunities “I was born in a town in which 80% did political activities ..., my father was Member of Parliament. …therefore when we immigrated to Y, because we had to immigrate to Y, it was almost natural that I started to look for a place in which to organize myself because I came from a place organized as well.” Guess where she comes from! www.uni-oldenburg.de/politis-europe

6. Country of Origin Influences: Obstacles “One should not forget that these children, these young people come from X-land families. Their parents think that civic activity is bad; that one has to work for money. …I tell them: If you go to an organisation, there is a person sitting in an office and you ask him a question and receive some help from him and you can’t even imagine that he does not get any payment for this, he is working as a volunteer. Here, this is worthy. They listen as if I was talking about Harry Potter.” Guess where X-land is! www.uni-oldenburg.de/politis-europe

7. Receiving Country Influences: Opportunities – rights “Information came to me that immigrants could participate in local politics, they could stand as candidate and also be able to vote as voters, so when that information came to me that natural political instinct was re-awakend, so I said good, this is the opportunity I have been waiting for.” Less participation rights in your country? www.uni-oldenburg.de/politis-europe

8. Legal conditions: Example voting rights for foreign nationals www.uni-oldenburg.de/politis-europe

9. Receiving Country Influences: Obstacles – exercising rights “The system of justice is totally influenced by racist opinions and practices so a priori immigrants are condemned to be marginalized and second class citizens. Moreover the y-land administration doesn’t take into account at all even the recommendations of independent authorities like the Ombudsman and the EU. It is extremely difficult in such conditions to achieve anything because the y-land state doesn’t allow you within legal norms to enjoy your rights as an immigrant.” Problems with exercising rights in your country? www.uni-oldenburg.de/politis-europe

10. Receiving Country Influences: Obstacles - procedures “Why is red tape, why are the details of a receipt so important, when it is obvious there is no corruption? I think that there should be monitoring to avoid corruption, but that isn’t the case. These people are lost in the details, when the vital issues go unheeded.” Could this be said about your country? www.uni-oldenburg.de/politis-europe

11. Receiving Country Influences: Opportunities - Public support “We have a part-time worker in the [Ethnic cultural] Centre paid by government. It is not great amount of support. But it’s better than nothing. Nevertheless, there are many ethnic minorities in Y, so that the government has to take different needs from different groups into consideration. We have been given a small portion of the resources. But if we need more, we have to find our own means.“ Government support in your country? www.uni-oldenburg.de/politis-europe

12. Receiving Country Influences: Opportunities – participation culture “Here, in Y-land, any person can volunteer, the main things would be to find something for him or her to do which s/he would be interested in, which would be useful, and where s/he could use his or her energy and abilities in the best possible way. Which means that anyone - even a person who speaks very poor English or a disabled person, it doesn’t matter - can become a volunteer, the main thing is to find a really suitable place for him/her.” Prevailing attitude in your country? www.uni-oldenburg.de/politis-europe

13. Participation rates of natives and immigrants – examples Calculations by Mariya Aleksynksa with European Social Survey, in Vogel (ed.) Highly Active Immigrants forthcoming 2007 www.uni-oldenburg.de/politis-europe

14. Societal Opportunity Structure Influcences: Conclusion • The immigration framework: Secure residence and equal participation rights are favourable for immigrant activism – but their implementation may be hindered by bureaucracy, discrimination and lack of information. • The participation framework: A vivid civil society that favours participation of all members also encourages immigrants. www.uni-oldenburg.de/politis-europe

15. Contact • Thank you for your attention! • More information about POLITIS • www.uni-oldenburg.de/politis-europe www.uni-oldenburg.de/politis-europe