Adaptation to Democracy among Immigrants in Australia

Abstract

This article examines adaptation to democracy among immigrants who leave authoritarian regimes to settle in Australia. Two questions are addressed. First, do immigrants from authoritarian regimes successfully adapt to democracy, in terms of both supporting democracy and participating in the electoral process? And second, does the pre-migration socialization in authoritarian regimes influence immigrants' democratic transition? Using the 2004 Australian Election Study and the Australian section of the 2005 World Values Survey, the findings indicate that if immigrants from authoritarian regimes lag behind the rest of the population in terms of support for democracy, they tend to participate at least as much as the rest of the population in electoral activities. Overall, the study highlights both the persistence of and the change in immigrants' premigration political orientations.Across the world, a large and increasing flow of immigrants leaves authoritarian regimes each year to settle in the established democracies. Those newcomers who migrate from authoritarian regimes to established democracies are confronted with democratic norms and practices late in life, after having been socialized under authoritarian rules. There is a growing concern in the host societies that public authorities should ensure that these new citizens will adapt to their new democratic political system and that they will learn and adhere to democratic norms and practices. How well do these new citizens absorb democratic values, and what can governments do to ensure a smooth assimilation?To address this question, we investigate the adaptation to democracy among immigrants who leave an authoritarian regime to settle in an established democracy. Such an investigation requires addressing the persistence of the political socialization that immigrants from authoritarian regimes received in their country of origin, as well as their capacity for new learning once in the host country.

Democratic Participation in a Globalised World: Immigrants in Australia in the Early 21st Century

“…The rate of participation in these activities for immigrants from English-speaking countries is about the same as for Australian-born respondents, except that they are more inclined to use the internet for political information. While perhaps somewhat counterintuitive, these results are consistent with findings in earlier research on Australian political participation (Bilodeau, McAllister and Kanji 2010;McAllister 1992, 60;2011, 137-38). It would be interesting for future research to investigate the reasons behind these strong patterns of participation by immigrants and in particular whether it may relate to political parties fostering immigrant participation, as in the United States (McKenna 1976, 180-81).…”

“…The third and fourth columns show results for respondents who were born outside Australia and have since immigrated to this country. The overseas-born are divided into two groups, those from English-speaking backgrounds (ESB) and those from non-Englishspeaking backgrounds (NESB), given the evidence from previous research that people who come from different political cultures and political traditions tend to differ in their attitudes and orientations towards politics and political participation (Bilodeau 2008;Bilodeau, McAllister and Kanji 2010;McAllister and Makkai 1992). 1 Initially I look at voting itself.…”

“…Such a reluctance to participate has also been observed in Australia with respect to protest forms of political action (Bilodeau 2008). By contrast, however, when the focus has been on conventional electoral activities, a number of previous studies in Australia have produced results suggesting that immigrants participate at least as much as the native-born (Bilodeau, McAllister and Kanji 2010;McAllister 1992, 60;2011, 137-38). Such findings are consistent with the longstanding tradition in the United States of political parties encouraging the participation of immigrants (McKenna 1976, 180-81).…”

Earning their support: feelings towards Canada among recent immigrants

“…Contrary to what others have observed with respect to trust in government (McAllister and Makkai 1992), support for democracy (Bilodeau, McAllister, and Kanji 2010) and participation in protest activities (Bilodeau 2008), immigrants from countries of origin with systematically different levels of wealth and political repression do not express distinctive orientations towards Canada (hypotheses 2a and 2b).…”

Emigrants and the Body Politic Left Behind: Results from the Latino National Survey

“…The emerging discussion is influenced by long-standing research on political socialization, where debate has pivoted around the question of whether political orientations acquired early in life persist across contexts or instead change as adults acquire new experiences. For the most part, research shows that immigrant behavior in the political sphere evolves in ways quite similar to the changes taking McAllister and Makkai (1992) demonstrated that Australian immigrants from countries with a shorter history of democracy are more likely to have authoritarian attitudes than those coming from countries with more 4 established democratic traditions; Cain et al (1991) found that characteristics of the polity of origin affected partisan loyalties in the polity of destination, with U.S. voters born in Russia, Cuba, Vietnam (all then communist countries), and Korea (threatened by a communist country) more likely to be Republicans; Simpson Bueker (2005) showed that immigrants coming from non-democratic regimes are less likely to turn out to vote than those from democratic societies; Bilodeau, McAllister and Kanji (2010) showed that immigrants from authoritarian regimes are as supportive of democracy as the rest of the population, but are more likely to support alternative, non-democratic forms of government, with the more authoritarian the country of origin, the greater the acceptance of authoritarian government. Though highly suggestive, these studies rest on inferences regarding the impact of prevailing, macro-level, pre-migration political conditions on post-migration political attitudes and behavior: they lack direct information on migrants' political views and behavior prior to leaving home.…”