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- Title
Immigrants in the Political Process.
- Authors
Bäck, Henry; Soininen, Maritta
- Abstract
Immigrants, who comprise a growing group in many European countries, are usually under-represented in the political process. Sweden's immigrant policy, with its far-reaching social and political rights, liberal citizenship laws and respect for cultural differences, is often regarded as an exemplary model of how to integrate immigrants in society. The 1975 electoral reform in Sweden gave immigrants the opportunity to become active in the democratic process by allowing foreign citizens to vote in local political elections. This article examines the political and organizational participation of immigrants. The findings indicate widespread and significant exclusion and under-representation of immigrants in political and organizational life. We argue that immigrant political participation is best understood in terms of a tension between individual characteristics and institutional and organizational factors. In particular, the long-term exclusion of large numbers of immigrants from labor related organizations is shown to be an important obstacle to their further social and political participation.
- Subjects
SWEDEN; POLITICAL participation; POLITICAL rights; IMMIGRANT policy; POLITICAL participation of immigrants; ELECTION policy; ELECTIONS; ELECTIONS &; society; POLITICAL science
- Publication
Scandinavian Political Studies, 1998, Vol 21, Issue 1, p29
- ISSN
0080-6757
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1467-9477.1998.tb00002.x