Patterns of Immigrant Political Behaviour in Australia: An Analysis of Immigrant Voting in Ethnic Context
Australian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 47, No. 3, September 2012, pp. 377–397
43 Pages Posted: 1 Aug 2011 Last revised: 4 Oct 2012
Date Written: 2011
Abstract
Abstract will be provided by author.Immigration is becoming an increasingly important issue in virtually every Western democracy. However, immigrants’ participation in politics varies greatly from country to country. This article identifies and explains the two key determinants of this variation. We establish that ethnicity along with traditional socioeconomic factors are the two primary forces that determine immigrant political behavior. We theorise immigrants’ ethnic differences from the native population along indicators such as language and residential segregation increase information costs and create barriers to participation in politics as well as influence partisanship. To test our theory, we analyze data from the Australian Election Study (AES) from 1993 to 2007. The results of the analysis in this paper provide strong empirical support for our theory.
Keywords: Immigration, Australia, Ethnic Voting, Electoral Institutions
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