The Residential Concentration and Political Participation of Immigrants in European Cities

Abstract

Academic and political debates about the position of immigrants and their offspring in European societies offer various insights according to space and time. What themes are discussed, studied or lead to public policies depends on the national context, the characteristics of the urban setting and the orientations of those in power. In France, the political participation of immigrants and their offspring became an issue for a while in the 1980s, but sank into oblivion when the Beur movement (comprised of young North Africans born in France) ran out of steam. Today, few people openly question the voting behaviour of the French of foreign origin, the phenomenon of immigrant elected MPs or the representation of immigrants and their offspring in the French political system.