Skip to content

Seminar series

Do enfranchised immigrants affect politicians' behaviour?

Global Citizenship seminar

Add to calendar 2022-03-17 12:00 2022-03-17 13:00 Europe/Rome Do enfranchised immigrants affect politicians' behaviour? Sala Triaria Villa Schifanoia YYYY-MM-DD
Print

Scheduled dates

Mar 17 2022

12:00 - 13:00 CET

Sala Triaria, Villa Schifanoia

Organised by

This seminar asks whether immigrants' enfranchisement affect how politicians respond to immigration
Immigrants are a large and growing unenfranchised group across many developed countries. Does immigrants' enfranchisement affect how politicians respond to immigration? I study the unique UK context, where immigrants from Ireland and the Commonwealth have voting rights in all elections immediately upon arrival, but these rights are not accorded to other immigrants. I analyse how politicians discuss immigration using text analysis of the universe of speeches in the UK parliament and how MPs vote on immigration bills between 1972 and 2011. I use a shift-share instrument exploiting pre-existing settlement patterns to address immigrants' endogenous location choice. I find that politicians exposed to higher enfranchised immigration spend more time in the parliament discussing issues that affect immigrants positively, yet they vote to increase immigration restrictions. Enfranchisement leads to more political engagement of immigrants, and politicians respond to this engagement. The political cost of favouring enfranchised immigrants is compensated by restricting future immigration.

Partners

Related events

  • Read more

    Conference

    04 Oct 2022 12:30 - 14:00 CEST

    Geneva, Geneva Graduate Institute

    Speakers:

    Maarten Vink (European University Institute) Victoria Finn (European University Institute) Maria Mexi (Geneva Graduate Institute) Laura Bullon-Cassis (Geneva Graduate Institute) Yanina Welp (Geneva Graduate Institute)

Go back to top of the page