Three approaches to the political involvement of migrants – a short overview over the state of research and some theoretical considerations

Abstract

Political participation, of course, is essential to democracy - without at least some participation of the demos, the concept appears devoid of meaning. Indeed, in their nowadays classic “Civic culture” study, Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba concluded that a democratic political system needed a “political culture consistent with it” (Almond/Verba 1963: 3) in order to be stable. Observing the political developments in post-World War II Europe and in the newly independent states of the formerly colonised world, they furthermore noted that a new “world political culture” was in the making with all countries striving for modern industrial technology and bureaucracy (Almond/Verba 1963: 2).