Understanding Politics, Trusting Politicians, Participating in Political Life. The Political Self-Efficacy of People with and without a Migration Background (September 2018 – June 2019)

The current public debate revolves around terms such as ‟trust”, ‟cohesion” and ‟participation”. ‟Politics” and ‟democracy” are deemed to be in crisis, and there is a general feeling that politicians are disengaged from voters. Many people (with and without a migration background) are at a loss to understand the political issues of the day and ask themselves things like ‟Do I actually understand important political issues?” and ‟Do I feel that politicians are really interested in me and what matters to me?” How, then, do citizens rate their ‟political self-efficacy” – and what does that mean in terms of their getting involved in politics and trusting the democratic system? Among other things, the 2018 Integration Barometer asked people with and without a migration background about their political literacy and how they perceive their means of political influence. Their answers have been assessed as part of a cooperation project with the German Centre for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM Institute). The project provided a means of comparing those with and without a migration background as well as in-depth findings on specific groups of origin.

The cooperation project was sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ). The SVR Research Unit and the DeZIM Institute published the project results in a joint Policy Brief in April 2019.

Publications

Summary

In touch with politics? How people with and without a migration background perceive their political self-efficacy