Political Adaptation of Foreign-Born Ethnic Minorities in Britain: The Effects of Pre-Migration Political Learning and Post-Migration Exposure

Abstract

This article aims to provide additional theoretical insights and empirical evidence for the transferability hypothesis (immigrants’ past political experiences in the origin country affect their subsequent political involvement in the destination country) and the exposure hypothesis (the longer immigrants are in their new land, the more likely they are to adapt their attitudes and behavior to the new political environment). Using data from the Ethnic Minority British Election Study (EMBES), it examines the effects of immigrants’ past political experiences and exposure to the British political system on their confidence in British political institutions. The results show that immigrants from more autocratic countries exhibited greater satisfaction with democracy in the UK than those from more democratic countries but that this relationship gradually diminished as the proportion of life spent in the UK increased. Immigrants from more autocratic origins confronted more severe discontinuities in political systems and expressed disproportionately high levels of confidence in British political institutions. However, these differences in attitudes between immigrants from different systems disappeared over time as immigrants adjusted to the new political environment in Britain. These results suggest that immigrant political adaptation is a “cross-border” interactive process in which immigrants learn to adjust to their new political surroundings by linking their past experiences with their present situation (transferability) and by familiarizing themselves with the new polity (exposure).