From participation to confinement: challenges for immigrants’ incorporation in political parties in Spain

ABSTRACT

The question of the democratic participation of immigrants has been the object of an extensive, theoretical and empirical literature. Nevertheless, we still lack detailed information on those internal dynamics of political parties which shape patterns of participation and representation of immigrants and their descendants, especially in Spain. We focus on how immigrants incorporate political parties in Spain and how this mode of incorporation influences the opportunities for immigrants to access elite positions and candidacies. On the one hand we examine individual trajectories in accessing and evolving in parties and, on the other hand, party strategies to reach out and include immigrants. We acknowledge a persisting gap between the access and participation in political parties, which has been facilitated over recent years, and the many obstacles in accessing elite and candidate positions in Spain.

KEYWORDS:

• Immigrants
• participation
• political parties
• representation
• Spain

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Flora Burchianti http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6135-7367

Ricard Zapata-Barrero http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3478-1330

Notes

1. Project co-financed by the European Commission (EC), European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals (EIF) between the 15th December 2012 and the 15th June 2014.

2. Detailed information on the methodology and data collection and analysis, including interview guides and list of interviewees, can be found in the project’s final report at : http://www.cjd-eutin.eu/fileadmin/content/DIVPOL_Final_Report_ES.pdf.

3. These data were collected in newspapers articles, party data and a comparison with candidate lists for the 2012 general elections in Catalonia and Madrid. This result is thus biased in favor of the candidates who have stated publicly their migrant origin during the campaign, who are made “visible” by their party or the ones in Madrid and Catalonia.

4. As of 2014, reciprocity agreements have been signed with: Norway, Ecuador, New Zealand, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Paraguay, Iceland, Bolivia, Cape Verde, South Korea, Trinidad and Tobago.

5. Such as the exclusionary practices mentioned at local level in districts populated with many immigrants and where local branches are weak. There was also a controversy around the vote of Pakistanis at primaries of PSC to designate the candidate for mayor in Barcelona in 2014.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by European Commission – Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs. European Integration Fund for the Integration of Third Country Nationals (2012-2014) [grand number HOME/2011/CFP/EIFX/CA/4000001978].