infonet-economy

This paper looks at the determinants of the political participation of Muslims. We assess the impact of associational involvement on their overall political participation and their involvement in protest activities. We do so using original survey data consisting of a random sample of Muslim residents in Switzerland. Our analysis provides support to the argument that associational involvement is a strong predictor of political participation. The findings suggest that Muslims involved in cross-ethnic organisations are more likely to engage in politics. This holds for the overall political participation and for engagement in protest activities. In terms of social capital theory, our findings confirm that bridging social capital is as crucial when it comes to explaining the political participation of Muslims as it is when dealing with migrants in general. However, we also observe a positive impact of the involvement in religious associations. We interpret this effect as an indication that bonding social capital plays a role in the political participation of ethno-religious minorities, but one based on a religious rather than an ethnic cleavage. Future research should pay more attention to this relationship.