Making Democratic Citizens: The Effects of Migration Experience on Political Attitudes in Central and Eastern Europe
Journal
Comparative Political Studies
ISSN
0010-4140
ISSN-Digital
1552-3829
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2012-07-01
Author(s)
Abstract
This article examines the effects of migration experience on political attitudes in Central and Eastern European countries. The rationale for this quest is the hypothesis that contact with democratic contexts translates into democratic political attitudes, for which evidence is so far inconclusive. In this article, we are interested to see whether migrants returning from Western countries display different political attitudes than their fellow nonmigrant citizens. The analysis of survey data shows that migration experience diversifies the array of political attitudes: Although migrants are more likely to trust EU institutions and to try to convince friends in political discussions, they do not differ from nonmigrants in their attitudes toward domestic institutions. Based on earlier works on determinants of political attitudes, the authors argue that migration experience has a significant effect only when these attitudes are related to objects that are associated with improvements in the migrants' material and cognitive status.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
HSG Profile Area
SEPS - Global Democratic Governance
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
Sage Publishing
Publisher place
Thousand Oaks
Volume
45
Number
7
Start page
871
End page
898
Pages
28
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
227015