Does Direct Democracy Hurt Immigrant Minorities? Evidence from Naturalization Decisions in Switzerland
| Autor: | Jens Hainmueller, Dominik Hangartner |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
H Social Sciences (General)
HT Communities. Classes. Races Sociology and Political Science Judicial review media_common.quotation_subject 05 social sciences Immigration Direct democracy Face (sociological concept) Naturalization 16. Peace & justice 0506 political science Representative democracy Political science Political economy Federal court 0502 economics and business Political Science and International Relations 050602 political science & public administration JS Local government Municipal government 050207 economics media_common Panel data |
| Zdroj: | American Journal of Political Science, 63 (3) |
| ISSN: | 1540-5907 0092-5853 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/ajps.12433 |
| Popis: | Do minorities fare worse under direct democracy than under representative democracy? We provide new evidence by studying naturalization requests of immigrants in Switzerland that were typically decided with referendums in each municipality. Using panel data from about 1,400 municipalities for the 1991–2009 period, we exploit Federal Court rulings that forced municipalities to transfer the decisions to their elected municipality councils. We find that naturalization rates surged by about 60% once politicians rather than citizens began deciding on naturalization applications. Whereas voters in referendums face no cost of arbitrarily rejecting qualified applicants based on discriminatory preferences, politicians in the council are constrained to formally justify rejections and may be held accountable by judicial review. Consistent with this mechanism, the increase in naturalization rates caused by switching from direct to representative democracy is much stronger for more marginalized immigrant groups and in areas where voters are more xenophobic or where judicial review is more salient. ISSN:0092-5853 ISSN:1540-5907 |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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