Becoming an Informed Citizen — the Relationship Between Naturalization Regimes, Language, and Political Knowledge Among Naturalized Citizens

Political knowledge is a crucial component of democratic participation. For immigrants in particular, political knowledge plays a key role in political integration. This article investigates how institutional contexts, in the form of naturalization regimes, shape differences in political knowledge among naturalized citizens. Using Germany as a case study, this analysis focuses on two major immigrant groups that were subject to different naturalization regimes, namely individuals of Turkish and Soviet origin. Drawing on data from the 2017 Immigrant German Election Study, mediation analyses reveal a knowledge gap across these groups. However, this gap does not appear to be influenced by individual proficiency in the German language. Naturalized Turkish immigrants demonstrate greater political knowledge than naturalized immigrants of Soviet origin. These results underscore that naturalization regimes do more than grant legal status but also shape the political integration of immigrant citizens.