Civic Community and Multicultural Democracy. The State of Research on Civic Community and the Political Integration of Immigrants: A Review

Democracy depends by definition on popular support and participation. In recent decades the number of migrants within Europe has increased rapidly. Therefore, the political incorporation of ethnic minorities has become an important political issue. Their engagement in host country politics affects the extent to which their political interests are represented and advanced. Participation of ethnic minorities in the political process is not only important in itself, but contributes to the quality of democracy at large. On the aggregate level, 9 out of 18 studies we reviewed found that the group that is ranked to be most civic is also most politically engaged. Thus, halve of these studies provided support for the F&T argument at the aggregate level. The other halve of these studies, however, do not support the ethnic civic community thesis. It appears that the selected literature provides very mixed support for the ethnic civic community argument at the aggregate level. On the individual level, the studies reviewed provide no clear verdict about the existence of an overall relationship between involvement in ethnic associations and political integration. However, stronger support for a positive than a negative relationship is found. This review provides some (mixed) support for the argument that the structure of ethnic civic communities affects the relationship between civic- and political engagement. Yet, the suggestion by Tillie (2004) that the effect of organizational- on political involvement is different for isolated and connected organizations, remains unexplored.