Immigrant-Origin Politicians and Elites in Europe: Factors for Success and Failure

Abstract

Immigration has changed the composition of European societies, and with a significant delay of at least one generation, elites in politics, business and in civil society have started to become more diverse. Most countries do however still witness under-representation of their population of immigrant origin, especially in influential positions. Several social scientists have dealt with descriptive, symbolic and substantive representation of immigrant-origin politicians and of members of other social elites. Their main conceptional frames were institutions, electoral arrangements, associations, and intersectionality. Knowledge on why some immigrant-origin citizens enter the group of elites as politicians, in business or civil society and do prevail while others do not succeed, is scarce. The panel may serve as an opportunity for scholars working on career-specific aspects of immigrant-origin citizens, especially but not exclusively in politics. We are looking for empirical papers using quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods beyond description, but conceptional contributions to the field are also welcome.

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