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February 23 rd 2010 Metropolis Brown Bag Seminar

Immigrants’ Political Integration: The Challenge of Overcoming Memories of Political Repression Antoine bilodeau antoine.bilodeau@concordia.ca Department of Political Science, Concordia University . February 23 rd 2010 Metropolis Brown Bag Seminar.

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February 23 rd 2010 Metropolis Brown Bag Seminar

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  1. Immigrants’ Political Integration:The Challenge of Overcoming Memories of Political RepressionAntoine bilodeauantoine.bilodeau@concordia.caDepartment of Political Science, Concordia University February 23rd 2010Metropolis Brown Bag Seminar

  2. THE CHALLENGE OF OVERCOMING MEMORIES OF POLITICAL REPRESSIONNEW WAVES OF IMMIGRANTS WITH UNIQUE POLITICAL EXPERIENCES • The origins of new immigrants in Canada has changed radically in the last five decades: • Greater ethnic diversity • New cultural and political heritage • Vast majority of immigrants have experienced political repression and have limited experience of democracy Source: Immigration Statistics (1965-2008) Note: Countries have been classified according to the Freedom House Country Rating

  3. THE CHALLENGE OF OVERCOMING MEMORIES OF POLITICAL REPRESSIONWHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF NEW IMMIGRANTS’ POL. EXPERIENCES? • What are the implications of these pre-migration experiences of political repression and limited experience of democracy for immigrants’ political integration in Canada? • Do immigrants relate to democracy in similar ways than the local population? • What kind of relationships do immigrants develop with political authorities? • Do immigrants participate in similar ways than the local population? • Let’s take a look at what we know so far…

  4. THE CHALLENGE OF OVERCOMING MEMORIES OF POLITICAL REPRESSIONEVIDENCE FROM PREVIOUS RESEARCH RE: PRE-MIGRATION EXPERIRENCES • Finifter and Finifter (1989): • American immigrants in Australia rely on pre-migration ideological positioning and partisan identification to develop new political preferences in host country • Transferability of political skills/learning between “similar” political regimes • Black (1987): • Immigrants who used to participate in country of origin participate more in host country (Canada) • Transferability of political skills/learning between political regimes, even highly dissimilar ones • What is acquired politically in one country is transferred to another country through immigration

  5. THE CHALLENGE OF OVERCOMING MEMORIES OF POLITICAL REPRESSIONEVIDENCE FROM PREVIOUS RESEARCH RE: POLITICAL REPRESSION • Gitelman (1982): • Greater authoritarianism, lower trust and lower efficacy among Soviet immigrants in Israel (in comparison to American immigrants) • McAllister and Makkai (1991): • Greater authoritarianism and lower efficacy among immigrants from countries with limited democracy • Rice and Feldman (1997): • Correlation between Americans’ civic values and the prevalence of civic values in the country of their ancestors • Harles (1997): • Immigrants from Laos in Canada refer to pre-migration experience to justify their reluctance to protest and be engaged with politics • Experience of political repression appears to leave a durable imprint Let’s take a closer look at evidence for immigrants in Canada (and Australia)

  6. THE CHALLENGE OF OVERCOMING MEMORIES OF POLITICAL REPRESSIONQ1: IMMIGRANTS’ RELATIONSHIP WITH DEMOCRACY? (1/4) “A minority should be free to criticize the decisions made by majority of the people.” Local 87 DCs (≤ 5 yrs) 84 DCs (> 5 yrs) 85 NDCs (≤ 5 yrs) 75 NDCs (> 5 yrs) 86 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 % agreeing with statement Note: Source: 1983 Immigrant Survey. Results report predicted percentages derived from multivariate analyses controlling for age, gender, education, income, employment status, and English proficiency.

  7. THE CHALLENGE OF OVERCOMING MEMORIES OF POLITICAL REPRESSIONQ1: IMMIGRANTS’ RELATIONSHIP WITH DEMOCRACY? (2/4) “People who hate the Canadian type of government should still have a chance to talk and make speeches.” Local 86 DCs (≤ 5 yrs) 83 84 DCs (> 5 yrs) NDCs (≤ 5 yrs) 76 NDCs (> 5 yrs) 78 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 % agreeing with statement Note: Source: 1983 Immigrant Survey. Results report predicted percentages derived from multivariate analyses controlling for age, gender, education, income, employment status, and English proficiency.

  8. THE CHALLENGE OF OVERCOMING MEMORIES OF POLITICAL REPRESSIONQ1: IMMIGRANTS’ RELATIONSHIP WITH DEMOCRACY? (3/4) “The Main Problem with Democracy is that People Don’t Know What is Best for Them” Local 65 DCs (≤ 5 yrs) 66 DCs (> 5 yrs) 67 NDCs (≤ 5 yrs) 84 NDCs (> 5 yrs) 79 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 % agreeing with statement Note: Source: 1983 Immigrant Survey. Results report predicted percentages derived from multivariate analyses controlling for age, gender, education, income, employment status, and English proficiency.

  9. THE CHALLENGE OF OVERCOMING MEMORIES OF POLITICAL REPRESSIONQ1: IMMIGRANTS’ RELATION TO DEMOCRACY? (4/4) Would you say it is a very good, fairly good, fairly bad or very bad way of governing this country to have… AUSTRALIA 2004 AES CANADA 2000/06 NIS/WVS 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 % who agree it is a very good or fairly good way of governing this country. a democratic political system a strong leader who does not have to bother with elections and parliament a democratic political system a strong leader who does not have to bother with elections and parliament the army rule the country the army rule the country Local Immigrants - DC Immigrants - NDC Note: Immigrants in Canada for up to 10 yrs.

  10. IMMIGRANTS’ POLITICAL INTEGRATION: THE CHALLENGE OF OVERCOMING MEMORIES OF POLITICAL REPRESSION Would you say it is a very good, fairly good, fairly bad or very bad way of governing this country to have… AUSTRALIA 2004 AES CANADA 2000/06 NIS/WVS 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 97 % who agree it is a very good or fairly good way of governing this country. 99 99 94 88 88 a democratic political system a strong leader who does not have to bother with elections and parliament a democratic political system a strong leader who does not have to bother with elections and parliament the army rule the country the army rule the country Local Immigrants - DC Immigrants - NDC Note: Immigrants in Canada for up to 10 yrs.

  11. IMMIGRANTS’ POLITICAL INTEGRATION: THE CHALLENGE OF OVERCOMING MEMORIES OF POLITICAL REPRESSION Would you say it is a very good, fairly good, fairly bad or very bad way of governing this country to have… AUSTRALIA 2004 AES CANADA 2000/06 NIS/WVS 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 97 % who agree it is a very good or fairly good way of governing this country. 99 99 94 88 88 40 34 23 19 19 18 a democratic political system a strong leader who does not have to bother with elections and parliament a democratic political system a strong leader who does not have to bother with elections and parliament the army rule the country the army rule the country Local Immigrants - DC Immigrants - NDC Note: Immigrants in Canada for up to 10 yrs.

  12. IMMIGRANTS’ POLITICAL INTEGRATION: THE CHALLENGE OF OVERCOMING MEMORIES OF POLITICAL REPRESSION Would you say it is a very good, fairly good, fairly bad or very bad way of governing this country to have… AUSTRALIA 2004 AES CANADA 2000/06 NIS/WVS 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 97 % who agree it is a very good or fairly good way of governing this country. 99 99 94 88 88 Immigrants who experienced political repression exhibit weaker support for democratic principles and non exclusive support for democracy 40 34 23 17 19 19 18 14 7 6 5 2 a democratic political system a strong leader who does not have to bother with elections and parliament a democratic political system a strong leader who does not have to bother with elections and parliament the army rule the country the army rule the country Local Immigrants - DC Immigrants - NDC Note: Immigrants in Canada for up to 10 yrs.

  13. THE CHALLENGE OF OVERCOMING MEMORIES OF POLITICAL REPRESSIONQ2: IMMIGRANTS’ RELATIONSHIP WITH POLITICAL AUTHORITIES? (1/2) Source: 2000/2006 NIS/WVS – Immigrants in Canada for up to 10 yrs. How much confidence do you have in… FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DC Immigrants – no repression 48 DC Immigrants – moderate repression 71 DC Immigrants – severe repression 81 PARLIAMENT DC Immigrants – no repression 51 DC Immigrants – moderate repression 72 DC Immigrants – severe repression 77 CIVIL SERVANTS DC Immigrants – no repression 54 DC Immigrants – moderate repression 72 DC Immigrants – severe repression 74 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 % who responded “quite a lot” or “great deal” of confidence

  14. THE CHALLENGE OF OVERCOMING MEMORIES OF POLITICAL REPRESSIONQ2: IMMIGRANTS’ RELATIONSHIP WITH POLITICAL AUTHORITIES? (2/2) How much confidence do you have in… ARMY DC Immigrants – no repression 64 DC Immigrants – moderate repression 66 DC Immigrants – severe repression 70 Immigrants who experienced political repression tend to exhibit greater confidence in political authorities POLICE DC Immigrants – no repression 61 DC Immigrants – moderate repression 68 DC Immigrants – severe repression 71 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 % who responded “quite a lot” or “great deal” of confidence Source: 2000/2006 NIS/WVS – Immigrants in Canada for up to 10 yrs.

  15. THE CHALLENGE OF OVERCOMING MEMORIES OF POLITICAL REPRESSIONQ3: IMMIGRANTS’ PARTICIPATION TO POLITICS? (1/2) Conventional Participation Protest Participation 10 5 0 -5 -10 -15 -20 DC ≤ 10 yrs DC > 10 yrs -4.3 NDC ≤ 10 yrs -8.2 -8.4 -9.7 NDC > 10 yrs -11 -13 -13.1 -18.1 Note: Source: 1983 Immigrant Survey. Results report predicted percentages derived from multivariate analyses controlling for age, gender, education, income, employment status, and English proficiency.

  16. THE CHALLENGE OF OVERCOMING MEMORIES OF POLITICAL REPRESSIONQ3: IMMIGRANTS’ PARTICIPATION TO POLITICS? (2/2) CANADA (2000 NIS/WVS) Local population 21 Immigrants – no repression ≤ 5 yrs 51 6-10 yrs 43 Immigrants – moderate repression ≤ 5 yrs 65 6-10 yrs 64 Immigrants – severe repression ≤ 5 yrs 72 Immigrants who experienced political repression tend to participate less, especially in protest activities 6-10 yrs 52 AUSTRALIA (2004 AES) Local population 37 Immigrants – no repression 41 Immigrants – moderate repression 30 Immigrants – severe repression 63 Are they predicted percentages? 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Percentage abstaining from all protest activities

  17. THE CHALLENGE OF OVERCOMING MEMORIES OF POLITICAL REPRESSIONLESSONS FOR UNDERSTANDING IMMIGRANTS’ POLITICAL INTEGRATION (1/2) The experience of political repression leaves a durable imprint on immigrants’ political behaviours and attitudes in Canada: Relationship with democracy Relationship with political authorities Relationship with participation Relationship with politics in Canada is in part tainted by the relationship with politics developed in the country of origin: Non-exclusive commitment to democracy, trust and distrust Immigrants are not “blank slate” when they settle in Canada But immigrants also acquire new political learning in Canada Political participation: voting, communal activities, protest (?)

  18. THE CHALLENGE OF OVERCOMING MEMORIES OF POLITICAL REPRESSIONLESSONS FOR UNDERSTANDING IMMIGRANTS’ POLITICAL INTEGRATION (2/2) Immigrants’ political adaptation is process of “cumulative learning: “New” experiences added on top of “old” experiences “New” experiences complement “old” experiences but do not replace them “culture shedding” and “culture learning” (Berry 2001): Yes immigrants accomplish culture learning, but it is not clear how much culture shedding they undergo Political integration is in part grounded in political legacies of country of origin Not just institutions, social networks, resources, and socio-economic status

  19. THE CHALLENGE OF OVERCOMING MEMORIES OF POLITICAL REPRESSIONIMPLICATIONS FOR CANADA AND POLICY MAKING Major demographic changes in immigration bring up new challenges regarding dynamics of political integration • Need to ensure common understanding of the rules of the game • Need to overcome distrust of government and fear of speaking out publicly • Need to ensure emergence of greater critical evaluations of governments • Need to ensure access to political voice to all in every mode of participation

  20. IMMIGRANTS’ POLITICAL INTEGRATION: THE CHALLENGE OF OVERCOMING MEMORIES OF POLITICAL REPRESSION For more information please contact antoine.bilodeau@concordia.ca 514.848.2424 extension 5067

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