Europe: Immigrant mayors
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Immigrant mayors are thinly spread in Europe. There are a number of mayors and lord mayors in Britain with an ethnic minority background but they have largely a ceremonial role. In Germany there is a village with an engineer from India as mayor. In Belgium the socialist politician Emir Kir, who is of Turkish descent, may become mayor of Sint-Joost-Ten-Node. But countries like Sweden and Norway, which have welcomed immigrants for years, have no immigrant mayors.
France is a modest exception. Of the roughly 36,000 cities and villages, around ten have a mayor of immigrant descent. Most of these are hamlets with of no more than a few hundred souls. The most important is the left-wing politician Eddy Aït, with Berber parents and openly homosexual, who has been mayor of the Parisian suburb of Yvelines-sous-Poissy (population 14,000) since March 2008.
"France's singular position has to do with the fact that its mayors are directly elected," says Laure Michon, who researches the political representation of immigrants at Amsterdam University. "Half of the councils have fewer than 3,000 inhabitants and it's easier to become mayor on the basis of a personal network."
In general the Netherlands is in the vanguard of political participation by newcomers. Bovens says that the 12 immigrant members of parliament, 8 percent of the total, is "a fairly faithful reflection of the population". Most national parliaments in Europe lag behind. Certainly in Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Norway people with an immigrant background are heavily under represented in parliament.
"Political participation by immigrants in Norway is a failure at a national level, but a success at a local level," says political scientist Tor Bjorlund. The electoral system plays an important role in this. Preferential votes can be cast at a local level in Norway and this is done far more often by newcomers than by native Norwegians, Bjorlund says.
Local success
Another effect of the electoral system can be seen in Germany, according to Edda Currle, a political scientist at Bamberg University. Many immigrants are not eligible to vote at local level because they do not have German citizenship, even though they have lived in a city for years. Dual nationality is forbidden and about half of the newcomers have chosen to keep their original nationality. "Immigrants are underrepresented at all levels - local, federal and national," Currle says.
There is still too little systematic research into the political participation of immigrants in Europe. Wüst, a leader in this area, does see some general tendencies. Immigrants are more likely to be elected as a member of a left-wing party, if they stand in an election where multiple candidates are being chosen and if the electorate includes many other immigrants.
Wüst: "Nearly all politicians with an immigrant background pay a great deal of attention to immigration affairs in the beginning. As they progress, the difference with other politicians gradually disappears."
Source: NRC (English)
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Immigrant mayors are thinly spread in Europe. There are a number of mayors and lord mayors in Britain with an ethnic minority background but they have largely a ceremonial role. In Germany there is a village with an engineer from India as mayor. In Belgium the socialist politician Emir Kir, who is of Turkish descent, may become mayor of Sint-Joost-Ten-Node. But countries like Sweden and Norway, which have welcomed immigrants for years, have no immigrant mayors.
France is a modest exception. Of the roughly 36,000 cities and villages, around ten have a mayor of immigrant descent. Most of these are hamlets with of no more than a few hundred souls. The most important is the left-wing politician Eddy Aït, with Berber parents and openly homosexual, who has been mayor of the Parisian suburb of Yvelines-sous-Poissy (population 14,000) since March 2008.
"France's singular position has to do with the fact that its mayors are directly elected," says Laure Michon, who researches the political representation of immigrants at Amsterdam University. "Half of the councils have fewer than 3,000 inhabitants and it's easier to become mayor on the basis of a personal network."
In general the Netherlands is in the vanguard of political participation by newcomers. Bovens says that the 12 immigrant members of parliament, 8 percent of the total, is "a fairly faithful reflection of the population". Most national parliaments in Europe lag behind. Certainly in Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Norway people with an immigrant background are heavily under represented in parliament.
"Political participation by immigrants in Norway is a failure at a national level, but a success at a local level," says political scientist Tor Bjorlund. The electoral system plays an important role in this. Preferential votes can be cast at a local level in Norway and this is done far more often by newcomers than by native Norwegians, Bjorlund says.
Local success
Another effect of the electoral system can be seen in Germany, according to Edda Currle, a political scientist at Bamberg University. Many immigrants are not eligible to vote at local level because they do not have German citizenship, even though they have lived in a city for years. Dual nationality is forbidden and about half of the newcomers have chosen to keep their original nationality. "Immigrants are underrepresented at all levels - local, federal and national," Currle says.
There is still too little systematic research into the political participation of immigrants in Europe. Wüst, a leader in this area, does see some general tendencies. Immigrants are more likely to be elected as a member of a left-wing party, if they stand in an election where multiple candidates are being chosen and if the electorate includes many other immigrants.
Wüst: "Nearly all politicians with an immigrant background pay a great deal of attention to immigration affairs in the beginning. As they progress, the difference with other politicians gradually disappears."
Source: NRC (English)
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