Immigrant political participation across Western Europe: the role of political rights, public attitudes, and discrimination

Abstract This article examines how institutional opportunity structures, discursive environments, and individual-level grievances shape political participation among migrants. Specifically, it investigates the effects of local voting rights for non-nationals, public attitudes towards migrants, and perceived discrimination on two forms of political engagement: voting and protest. Grounded in the political opportunity structure framework and grievance-based theories, the study formulates distinct expectations for electoral and non-electoral behaviour: perceived discrimination is hypothesized to discourage voting but mobilize protests. These effects are expected to be moderated by broader discursive context—public attitudes towards migrants. The analysis uses data from Rounds 7 to 10 (2014–2022) of the European Social Survey (ESS), covering 13 Western European countries with varied migration histories and policies. To ensure comparability within a shared institutional framework, voting analysis is restricted to migrant-origin citizens, while protest includes both migrant-origin citizens and non-citizens. The sample includes 13,358 migrants (7050 eligible to vote) and 91,905 natives. Findings show that local voting rights significantly increase voting. Perceived discrimination has no direct effect on voting but increases protest activity, particularly in countries with favourable public attitudes. These effects diminish in hostile environments. The findings confirm the relevance of grievances and opportunity structures in shaping migrant political behaviour.