The winners of our inaugural EPSR Early Careers Prize announced

We are delighted to congratulate Elif Naz Kayran and Anna-Lena Nadler on winning the inaugural EPSR Early Careers Prize for ‘Non-citizen voting rights and political participation of citizens: evidence from Switzerland’, published in EPSR Volume 14.

Democratic systems are under constant scrutiny from political scientists. This scrutiny and process of methodological self-reflection allow for detailed and innovative analyses of democratic innovations. This year’s laureates of the new European Political Science Review (EPSR) Prize for early career scholars represent our community in an outstanding manner.

In their winning article, Non-citizen voting rights and political participation of citizens: evidence from Switzerland, authors Elif Naz Kayran (European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research) and Anna-Lena Nadler (Leiden University) examine the extent to which local non-citizen voting rights policies influence the electoral participation dynamics between native citizens and those with an immigration background.

The research shows two particularly relevant results. First, that electoral turnout is significantly higher in municipalities with non-citizens’ voting rights. Second, the observed increase in participation among citizens with immigration backgrounds is less likely to be linked to a competition for political influence, which is more likely to be the case with native citizens. Read the article in Open Access.

Our winners

Elif Naz Kayran 

 I am incredibly happy to see this paper receive an award because the work that Anna-Lena and I have put into this research truly comes from a place of curiosity and care on this topic. It is very rewarding to read the jury’s kind words highlighting the growing importance of studying an increasingly heterogenous electorate in Europe.

I also cannot say it enough that there is no better feeling than doing research with a great friend who is an excellent scholar – and then it being recognised like this. 

Anna-Lena Nadler

 I am thrilled that our paper has been awarded the EPSR Early Career Prize! Studying political behaviour in diverse democracies often entails important data challenges. It is, therefore, even more rewarding that the jury recognises the importance of better understanding electoral behaviour in immigration contexts and the role that policies play for heterogenous electorates.

Receiving the EPSR Early Career is very encouraging to keep studying this topic which is not only a fascinating field of research to be working on but also implies important political relevance for diverse societies in which we are living. And I couldn’t be happier than to be joined in this path of curiosity by an inspiring scholar and great friend! 

From our jury

 The study opens important questions, which will have further repercussions for comparative political science on the transformation of democracy and hence represents an excellent piece of research for one of the issues at the heart of the ECPR community. 

The jury for the inaugural prize consisted of:

• Sabine Saurugger, University of Houston (Chair; ECPR Executive Committee Member)
• Ruth Dassonneville, Université de Montréal (EPSR Editorial Board Member)
• Jonas Tallberg, Stockholm University (EPSR Editorial Board Member)

Honourable mention

Our jury is also pleased to award an honourable mention to Participatory processes and their outcomes: comparing assembly and popular vote decisions by Alice el Wakil & Michael A Strebel. The article, which is also available in Open Access, tests the argument that assemblies lead to decisions that are more widely supported by participants than popular votes.

Keywords: Citizenship, Political Participation, Voting Behaviour