Introduction

There is increasing interest in the political participation and representation of religious and ethnic minorities in Europe (Bird, Saalfeld and Wüst 2010; Benbassa 2011; Givens and Maxwell 2012; Nielsen 2013). While in many countries this is quite a new topic, such research in Britain actually dates back to the early 1970s. This can firstly be explained by the settlement of large numbers of migrants from its former colonies in the immediate post-war period which meant that issues of immigration, race and ethnicity became prominent relatively early. Also, unlike other European countries which denied voting rights to migrants, many of those arriving in Britain had full political rights as either citizens of the UK or Commonwealth citizens. It was in this context that Muhammad Anwar started his research on political participation amongst minorities in Britain by firstly monitoring the participation of Asians in Rochdale in the parliamentary by-election of 1972 and then participation by all ethnic minorities during the 1974 general election (Anwar and Kohler 1975). His work has been crucial in our understanding of this phenomenon and it is fitting that his foreward begins this current volume. Other important landmarks in this field include works by Anthony Messina (1989), Shamit Saggar (1991) and Andrew Geddes (1995).