Kumulative Dissertation, Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, 2017

The thesis is about immigrants’ cognitive and psychological commitment to the political system in Germany. In the light of terrorist actions, migrant political integration has become one of the most pressing concerns of European immigration countries over the last years. More precisely, my dissertation focusses on the relationship between migrants’ ethnic, religious, and national identity (i.e. psychological group memberships) and their attitudinal incorporation into the democratic political system of Germany. While national identity is perceived within public discourses as a bridge to migrants’ psychological adaption to the mainstream political system, ethnic or religious identity are conceived as barriers. Thus, my main interest for the analyses is to evaluate how senses of belonging to the ethnic and religious minority group or the national majority affects recent and long-term immigrants’ attitudes towards the self in German politics (i.e. being a Person who is interested in German politics), as well as attitudes towards the democratic regime (i.e. being satisfied with the democratic regime in Germany). Therefore, the thesis first assesses the conditions of identification with the national political community in Germany of recently arrived immigrants. Second, it examines the impact of national identity as well as ethnic identity on the inclination of recent as well as long-term immigrants to become interested in national politics in Germany. Thereby, I also discuss the meaning of a so-called dual ethno-national identity. Third, I analyse how religious (i.e. Muslim) identity relates to migrants’ positive evaluations of the German democratic regime and how the impact is moderated by their ethnic, national group membership, as well as generational status.