Ad-hoc ISPOLE seminar: Learning Politics Anew: How Public Programs Shapes Immigrants’ Political Integration

We will have the pleasure to welcome Prof. Valérie-Anne Mahéo (ULaval) for an ad-hoc ISPOLE seminar on Thursday 14 September 2023. She will present a paper entitled “Learning Politics Anew: How Public Programs Shapes Immigrants’ Political Integration” 

Abstract

This study addresses an important question: How does the State facilitate or hinder immigrants’ political integration? We specifically examine the role of public programs in promoting or discouraging participation in political life and attachment to the host country. Service provision constitutes a large proportion of what governments do, and as Mettler and Soss (2004) have argued, “Government policies can play a crucial role in shaping the things publics believe and want, the way citizens view themselves and others, and how they understand and act toward the political system” (55). 

In this study, we focus on the first few years of immigrants’ lives in the host country, which is a context in which they are more likely to frequently interact with public services and to use government programs. Drawing on an online survey of 1,500 recent immigrants in Canada, the paper explores immigrants’ interactions with the public administration and their use of various governmental services, and how these experiences relate to their interest in public affairs, their trust in government, as well as their attachment to their new community and host country.