Islam, Religiosity, and Immigrant Political Action in Western Europe

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The issues of migration and immigrant political integration in western democracies have become increasingly intertwined with debates on religion, particularly Islam. To date, however, we have surprisingly little systematic research on how religious beliefs are related to immigrants’ political engagement. In this study, we argue that religion has a capacity to mobilize immigrants politically but the strength of this relationship depends on immigrant generation, religiosity, and the type of religion. Using survey data collected as part of the European Social Survey (ESS) 2002–2010 in 18 West European democracies, our analyses reveal that religion is indeed linked to political engagement of immigrants in a complex way: while belonging to a religion is generally associated with less political participation, exposure to religious institutions appears to have the opposite effect. Moreover, we find that, compared to foreign-born Muslims, second-generation Muslim immigrants are not only more religious and more politically dissatisfied with their host countries, but also that religiosity is more strongly linked to their political engagement. This relationship, however, is limited to uninstitutionalized political action

Le rôle du niveau de maîtrise pour la représentation sémantique des prépositions spatiales en langue seconde

Cet article présente deux études qui visent à tracer le développement de représentations sémantiques pour les prépositions spatiales en français langue seconde chez des locuteurs de différents niveaux de maîtrise. La première élicite la production de prépositions spatiales pour des situations spatiales spécifiques, et la seconde, des jugements d’acceptabilité pour les mêmes situations. Les résultats indiquent une structuration de la représentation sémantique qui continue à travers les niveaux de maîtrise

Economic effects on the vote in Norway

A body of accumulating evidence appears to support the finding that collectivist economic concerns and assessments of government economic performance directly influence voting behavior independent of other predispositions and cleavages. This seems reasonable and is well documented across both cultures and time periods. What remains more inconclusive is how to explain fluctuations in the electoral impact of personal economic worries. Our comparison of Norwegian and U.S. data has suggested that cognitive, social and political factors may all influence this association. The political information and cues for connecting the two spheres may be absent for most elections and for most people. Nevertheless, in some elections and under certain conditions individual economic worries can have a significant, independent impact on election outcomes. A major goal of future political-economy research, therefore, should be to specify more completely those factors that facilitate the linkage of personal and collectivist economic concerns.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45495/1/11109_2004_Article_BF00987069.pd

Die EU-Volksabstimmungen in Österreich, Finnland, Schweden und Norwegen: Verlauf, Ergebnisse, Motive und Folgen: Die vorliegende vergleichende Studie der EU-Volksabstimmungen 1994 in Österreich, Finnland, Schweden und Norwegen ist das Ergebnis eines Gemeinschaftsprojektes. Eine überarbeitete Fassung dieser Studie erscheint in der Ausgabe 19/2(1995) der Zeitschrift "Integration"

Abstract: This paper analysis the 1994 EU referenda in Austria, Finland, Sweden and Norway in a comparative perspective. It shows that the results were, to some extent at least, related to how pronounced the respective elite consensus was on the necessity or desirability of EU membership. It also shows that in all cases the main motivation of the Yes voters was economic. The paper goes on to analyse the regional and social variations in voting patterns. In the concluding chapter some of the medium- and long-term effects of the referenda debates and results on Austrian, Finnish and Swedish government policy within the EU are outlined.

Die EU-Volksabstimmungen in Österreich, Finnland, Schweden und Norwegen: Verlauf, Ergebnisse Motive und Folgen

This paper analysis the 1994 EU referenda in Austria, Finland, Sweden and Norway in a comparative perspective. It shows that the results were, to some extent at least, related to how pronounced the respective elite consensus was on the necessity or desirability of EU membership. It also shows that in all cases the main motivation of the Yes voters was economic. The paper goes on to analyse the regional and social variations in voting patterns. In the concluding chapter some of the medium- and longterm effects of the referenda debates and results on Austrian, Finnish and Swedish government policy within the EU are outlined. [author's abstract

How Might Reform of the Political System Appeal to Discontented Citizens?

In Britain, levels of political trust have declined, stimulating policy makers to explore ways of appealing to discontented citizens. One such initiative involves reform of the political system. Yet this raises the question of which types of political reform are likely to appeal to discontented citizens. Existing studies have examined how individuals respond to political reforms, yet these studies only consider a limited range of institutional changes. Scholars and policy makers thus know little about the popular appeal of a wider set of institutional reforms. Taking advantage of proposals for political reform in Britain, this article considers public reactions to a wide range of institutional changes. Using data from the 2011 British Social Attitudes survey, we find that direct democratic reforms are not the only changes that appeal to discontented citizens. Instead, policy-makers may also appeal to the distrustful via reforms that allow voters more control over their political representatives

Explaining Citizen Perceptions of Party Ideological Positions: The Mediating Role of Political Contexts

In this paper we examine how political contexts mediate citizens' ability to understand political parties' ideological positions, focusing on education level. Using cross-national data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES), we explore how the effect of individual education level in influencing the supply and clarity of ‘left-right’ information in a party system is mediated by contextual factors. The results show that the effect of education levels in improving citizens' ability to perceive party ideological locations is conditional on political context. First, in cases where the supply of such information is limited due to less democratic experience and less programmatic party politics, the effect of education is weakened. However, the effect of education increases in contexts where we would expect less clarity of party position information—where parties are least polarized and where institutional factors add complexity to party competition