Marching Together? Military Conscription and Immigration Attitudes in Europe

Marching Together? Military Conscription and Immigration Attitudes in Europe | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Marching Together? Military Conscription and Immigration Attitudes in Europe Maelle Delouis-Jost This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9242475/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Amid renewed debates about national service in Europe, military conscription is increasingly seen not just as a tool for defense, but as a way to foster social cohesion and national identity. This paper asks whether exposure to conscription shapes how people think about immigration. Using data from the European Social Survey and a regression discontinuity design, I examine the long-term effects of conscription on attitudes toward immigration in eleven European countries that abolished mandatory conscription between 1961 and 2006. Individuals who narrowly missed conscription due to abolition express less negative views about immigration’s impact on the economy, culture, and quality of life, consistent with conscription reinforcing exclusionary perceptions. However, these changes in perception do not consistently lead to lower support for far-right political parties or to more liberal policy preferences, suggesting a gap between personal beliefs and political behavior. These findings contribute to debates on nationalism, civic institutions, and the political consequences of military service, and carry implications for countries currently reconsidering conscription. military conscription immigration attitudes nationalism regression discontinuity European Social Survey political socialization Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files OnlineAppendix.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9242475","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":624500001,"identity":"c3dc63a8-2e38-4cf0-8abc-b45b5fd44685","order_by":0,"name":"Maelle Delouis-Jost","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"University of Zurich","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Maelle","middleName":"","lastName":"Delouis-Jost","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-27 08:54:30","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9242475/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9242475/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":107705924,"identity":"c50af982-db40-4524-8860-3481daed6133","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-24 09:15:44","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":580900,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"AnonymisedManuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9242475/v1_covered_70ac6efd-cb59-4ada-a996-d5a0a676013d.pdf"},{"id":107580853,"identity":"4138fd59-4e72-45ec-99a3-6435c22035b5","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-22 22:57:24","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":1811308,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"OnlineAppendix.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9242475/v1/154d5ef0916b7103c0f3ba1c.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Marching Together? 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