Overview
Citizens may support democracy in principle while opposing equal rights, representation, or political inclusion for immigrants. DEMIG investigates what this tension means for democratic attachment.
The project connects two areas of research that have largely developed separately: public attitudes toward immigration and citizens’ support for democracy. Bringing them together makes it possible to ask whether anti-immigrant attitudes gradually erode democratic commitment or instead produce selective support for some dimensions of democracy.
Research problem
Democratic attachment is often measured through support for democracy as a system, elections, or opposition to authoritarian rule. DEMIG also considers support for specific democratic principles, including minority rights, political equality, and liberal-democratic protections.
The project examines whether different forms of immigration, immigrant profiles, and economic or cultural sources of opposition are associated with different democratic preferences. It also studies change over time and in response to political, economic, and social conditions.
Research programme
DEMIG combines comparative surveys with experimental and longitudinal research. Conjoint and vignette experiments help identify how particular attributes and arguments shape attitudes. Panel and repeated-survey designs make it possible to follow change.
A separate methodological strand evaluates whether AI can assist researchers in writing clearer, more neutral, inclusive, and context-appropriate survey questions. The value of these questions is tested against conventionally developed alternatives.
Project details
- Full title
- Democracy-Migration Paradox: Anti-Immigrant Attitudes and Commitment to Democracy
- Principal investigator
- Assoc. Prof. M. Tahir Kılavuz
- Host institution
- Sabancı University
- Funding
- European Research Council Starting Grant
- Grant agreement
- 101220774
- Project period
- 1 May 2026–30 April 2031