Research
My research examines how immigrants and minorities come to belong politically in democratic societies. I argue that political belonging is not a fixed status people possess or lack, but something continually negotiated through everyday interactions with others, the boundaries groups draw around themselves, and the political language that defines who counts as a legitimate member. Across Europe and other Western democracies, I investigate how these processes shape immigrants’ political integration and how democratic communities define membership within them.
Peer-Reviewed Articles
What Can Dual Citizens Teach Us about Political Engagement?
Engaged but Targeted? How Immigrants Vote Against Anti-Immigrant Agendas in Europe.
Divergent Paths of Integration in the Post-Multicultural Era: Interculturalism in Spain and Civic Integration in France.
Book Chapters
Linguistic Polarization in Minority Representation: Analyzing Parliamentary Speeches in Germany and the UK (1980-2021).
Working Papers
- Not All Contact Is Equal: Interaction with Natives and Immigrant Political Integration in Hostile Contexts
Abstract
Immigrants form interpersonal ties with natives even in hostile political environments, yet we know little about whether those ties buffer or compound the effects of broader hostility on political integration. This study examines how different forms of contact with natives shape immigrant political integration across contexts of varying hostility. I draw on the 2021 and 2022 waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel, linked at the district level to measures of native attitudes toward immigration and far-right vote share through restricted-access geographic identifiers, and complement the survey evidence with 18 in-depth interviews with Syrian and Turkish recent immigrants. Everyday positive interactions sustain institutional trust even where the local political climate is hostile. Friendship ties show the opposite pattern: in districts with high societal hostility, immigrants with predominantly native friends report lower belonging than those with predominantly co-ethnic networks. Close relationships with natives can sharpen rather than soften awareness of broader exclusion. These findings extend contact theory toward a minority-centered account of integration and help explain the integration paradox.
- Cross-Ethnic Engagement and Political Integration of First-Generation Immigrants in Quebec
Abstract
Using a survey conducted in 2019, this paper analyzes immigrants in the province of Quebec and shows that engaging in political activities with non-co-ethnic individuals fosters immigrant political integration by exposing immigrants to diverse perspectives, promoting a broader civic identity, and enhancing feelings of belonging and trust in the host society.
- Is Six Degrees of Separation Five Too Many? The Limits of Indirect Contact
Abstract
Intergroup interaction can reduce prejudice, but practical constraints limit direct contact, leading researchers to study indirect contact, such as knowing someone who knows an outgroup member. While social psychology meta-analyses suggest that indirect contact influences attitudes, political science research on military conscription questions its impact on political attitudes and behavior. This raises normative concerns about segregation and the need to understand why brief outgroup contact can be meaningful while long-term coexistence may have little effect.
Work in Progress
- Well-Integrated Immigrants Without a Sense of Belonging? Revisiting Integration Paradox and Successful Integration in Western Europe
Abstract
This study examines the relationship between immigrants' economic integration and their sense of belonging in European host societies. Using the 2018 European Social Survey, I employ a three-step analytical approach to demonstrate the absence of a significant effect of economic integration on immigrants' sense of belonging.
Inter-Minority Attitudes Among Refugees in Germany
Not the Same Kind of Immigrant! Boundary-Making Among Co-National Immigrants
When Do Losers Defy Electoral Outcomes?
Who Counts as Patriotic?