ABSTRACT
As an ethnically heterogeneous but stable democracy, the United States is a puzzle for students of politics. The United States, however, is a conspicuous exception to the general rule. Whereas ethnically based conflict is not foreign to the American political experience, the United States has been able to avoid the system-threatening consequences of heterogeneity known in other democracies. This chapter shows that a secret to America’s success lies in the immigrant origins of its population. The conventional manner in which political theorists have understood the immigrant experience is wanting on two accounts: immigrant loyalties do not need to be manufactured, as they are ready-made, and immigrants are unlikely to disrupt the political process, as they have little inclination to participate in it at all. In the context of American political practice, this revised interpretation of immigrant politics suggests a certain irony.
