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Does Direct Democracy Hurt Immigrant Minorities? Evidence from Naturalization Decisions in Switzerland

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  • Jens Hainmueller
  • Dominik Hangartner

Abstract

Do minorities fare worse under direct democracy than under representative democracy? We provide new evidence by studying naturalization requests of immigrants in Switzerland that were typically decided with referendums in each municipality. Using panel data from about 1,400 municipalities for the 1991–2009 period, we exploit Federal Court rulings that forced municipalities to transfer the decisions to their elected municipality councils. We find that naturalization rates surged by about 60% once politicians rather than citizens began deciding on naturalization applications. Whereas voters in referendums face no cost of arbitrarily rejecting qualified applicants based on discriminatory preferences, politicians in the council are constrained to formally justify rejections and may be held accountable by judicial review. Consistent with this mechanism, the increase in naturalization rates caused by switching from direct to representative democracy is much stronger for more marginalized immigrant groups and in areas where voters are more xenophobic or where judicial review is more salient.

Suggested Citation

  • Jens Hainmueller & Dominik Hangartner, 2019. "Does Direct Democracy Hurt Immigrant Minorities? Evidence from Naturalization Decisions in Switzerland," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 63(3), pages 530-547, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:63:y:2019:i:3:p:530-547
    DOI: 10.1111/ajps.12433
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    1. Anthony Downs, 1957. "An Economic Theory of Political Action in a Democracy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65(2), pages 135-135.
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    Cited by:

    1. Koukal, Anna Maria & Schafer, Patricia & Eichenberger, Reiner, 2021. "Enfranchising non-citizens: What drives natives’ willingness to share power?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 1088-1108.
    2. Anna Maria Koukal & Patricia Schafer & Reiner Eichenberger, 2020. "The Trade-off between Deepening and Broadening of Democracy Lessons from Youth Enfranchisement," CREMA Working Paper Series 2020-16, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    3. Claire L Adida & Adeline Lo & Melina R Platas, 2019. "Americans preferred Syrian refugees who are female, English-speaking, and Christian on the eve of Donald Trump’s election," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(10), pages 1-18, October.
    4. Beine, Michel & Peracchi, Silvia & Zanaj, Skerdilajda, 2023. "Ancestral diversity and performance: Evidence from football data," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 193-214.
    5. Funk, Patricia & Litschig, Stephan, 2020. "Policy choices in assembly versus representative democracy: Evidence from Swiss communes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    6. Koukal, Anna Maria & Schafer, Patricia & Eichenberger, Reiner, 2024. "Empowering the next generation: The role of direct democracy in youth enfranchisement," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    7. Albert Chiu & Xingchen Lan & Ziyi Liu & Yiqing Xu, 2023. "Causal Panel Analysis under Parallel Trends: Lessons from A Large Reanalysis Study," Papers 2309.15983, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2024.
    8. Scott J. LaCombe, 2021. "Measuring Institutional Design in U.S. States," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(4), pages 1511-1533, July.
    9. Ferwerda, Jeremy & Marbach, Moritz & Hangartner, Dominik, 2022. "Do Immigrants Move to Welfare? Subnational Evidence from Switzerland," OSF Preprints a8rzx, Center for Open Science.

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