Tim Lars Allinger

Democracies around the world are facing increasing pressure, as citizens grow more skeptical that political institutions represent them and are increasingly willing to step outside democratic boundaries. These tensions are nowhere more visible than in debates over immigration and ethnic diversity, where long-standing patterns of hostility and violence against minorities have resurged in recent years. This dissertation examines what citizens expect of democratic institutions and what makes individuals sidestep their boundaries by endorsing or engaging in violence against immigrants and ethnic minorities. It argues that democratic institutions play a decisive yet often overlooked role in shaping these choices. Institutions not only channel demands and offer avenues for influence but also signal who counts as part of the political community and what forms of political expression are considered legitimate. When citizens perceive institutions as unresponsive to their concerns, they may view violence as the only remaining way to make themselves heard. Conversely, when institutions adopt or endorse exclusionary policies, they can inadvertently legitimize hostility and lower the social barriers that normally constrain harmful behavior. By analyzing how citizens understand political representation, how perceptions of institutional responsiveness shape support for violence, and how policy signals influence views of acceptable conduct toward minority groups, this dissertation shows that institutions can simultaneously mitigate and inflame the conditions that enable anti-minority violence. Its findings underscore a fundamental tension at the heart of diverse democracies: the need to address public demands while upholding the inclusive norms that protect democratic stability and societal cohesion.

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