Democracy or Sharia? Political Attitudes Among Refugees in Berlin in Summer 2016

Abstract

During 2015 and 2016, more than one million refugees—predominantly from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran—arrived at Germany. Integrating these people into the German society presents a major challenge for the years to come. Despite the obvious importance to learn more about the political attitudes of our new fellow citizens, not much is known about this topic yet. This article reports results from a quantitative survey among refugees in three Berlin refugee homes, asking for their political, religious, and social believes. The study reveals that the vast majority of refugees support a secular democracy as the best political construction of a community. Further analyses, however, also evince major differences in the understanding of basic rules that constitute a democratic society. In particular, some of the refugees’ attitudes (e.g., regarding their support for a “strong political leader who rules for the benefit of everyone”) remind of traditionally rightist, antiliberal thinking in Germany. Thus, using the same political catchwords does not always reflect an identical mindset. Finally, most of the surveyed refugees are willing to stay in Germany and express their readiness to adapt to central requirements of a tolerant Western society (e.g., the right to change one’s religion, interreligious marriages, etc.).