The Local Politics of Muslim Immigration

Using original local-level data from Berlin, Germany, this project demonstrates that the relationship between center-left political parties and immigrants is more complex than current research suggests. While center-left parties set the agenda on issues that concern Muslims and minorities in some locations, they are largely absent from integration policy-making in other parts of the same city.  It is difficult to predict where center-left parties will be active on immigrant integration because party behavior varies in districts with similar demographic and institutional environments.  This project shows that political competition is a fundamental factor for center-left behavior on integration.  Electoral threat from different left parties has distinct and opposite relationships with center-left policy behavior.  Competition from Green parties increases the probability that the center-left will produce integration policies, while contestation from far-left former communist parties decreases this same likelihood.  These relationships remain robust even after controlling for demographics and institutions, and across different policy content themes such as education and employment.  This project explores the mechanisms underlying these findings and discusses generalizability to other parts of Europe