Political participation of Yugoslav immigrants in Sweden1

Abstract

Abstract. In this article a description of political participation of Yugoslav immigrants in Sweden is presented. First, the migration flow from Yugoslavia to Sweden is described briefly in the context of large‐scale international labour migration in post‐war Europe. Further, an empirical comparative analysis is carried out on the basis of the Swedish Level of Living Survey. The aim is to compare political participation of Yugoslavs and Swedes. As a comparison could be misleading without taking into account different demographic and social characteristics of the two groups, the so called ‘twin method’ has been used which enables a more accurate comparison to be made. Political resources of Yugoslavs are thus compared only with those of the comparable group of Swedes. Different dimensions of political participation are taken into account, such as degree of trade union organization, political activities, public opinion activities, and relations with public authorities.