Just Another Erdogan: How Migrants Map Political Beliefs onto New Contexts

• In Event: Learning from Global Democratic Challenges and Innovations Mini-Conference III: Migration as Part of the Authoritarian Toolkit

Abstract

An emerging body of literature is beginning to consider how immigrants from an authoritarian home country adapt and change upon moving to more a democratic context. Building on the literature on political socialization, I argue that immigrants are “re-socialized” within their new political environment. As part of this process, immigrants use existing prior political beliefs and ideologies – often based heavily on their foundational political experiences in their authoritarian home country – as heuristics for understanding their new political context. By conducting and analyzing in-depth interviews with Turks living the United States, I theorize the process by which immigrants map these prior political beliefs and ideologies onto their new context and the resulting impact on their political behavior, a key concern for both the home country and the hosting country.

Author

• Irene Morse, University of Michigan