Does the Civic Conception of Nationhood Protect Against Negative Attitudes Towards Immigrants?

The rise of national-populist parties in Europe and the challenge to liberal democracy are recurring themes in contemporary politics. Successful parties mobilize around populist and nationalist issues (Hutter and Kriesi, 2021). This political rhetoric increasingly reflects nationalism characterized by the division and contrast between natives and foreigners. This trend is encapsulated by the motto "Co-national first!", suggesting a nativist conception of the nation and viewing diversity as a threat. In this sense, opposition to immigrants and support for discriminatory measures seem to intertwine with attempts to construct and/or reaffirm a collective identity around an ethnically majoritarian conception of national identity (Kaufmann, 2019). Empirical evidence based on cross-national survey data indicates that public opinion's conceptions emphasizing "ethnic" (or ascribed) elements of the nation foster the emergence of negative attitudes towards foreigners. However, the question of those who adopt conceptions more oriented towards a "civicpolitical" commonality is more complex. Even though they may generally support more inclusive attitudes towards foreigners, the significance and intensity of this positive effect vary depending on the operational definitions adopted and the national contexts investigated. Against this background, this paper aims to contribute theoretically and empirically tothe topic. The main claim of the paper is that civic conceptions of national identity might contribute to native favoritism directly and indirectly, as they highlight factors such as perceived threats and distrust of foreigners, which contribute to a deteriorating climate of intergroup relations. Empirically, hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM) on survey data from the last wave of EVS – European Values Study (2017). EVS is a large-scale, cross-national, repeated cross-sectional survey research program on basic human values.