Prof Lauren McLaren

Contact details

• Tel: +44 (0)116 252 4659
• Email: lm434@leicester.ac.uk
• Office: Attenborough Tower 807

Personal details

Lauren M. McLaren (Ph.D., 1996, University of Houston) joined the University of Leicester in the Autumn of 2018 as Professor of Politics. Prior to this, she has taught at the Universities of Glasgow, Nottingham and Oxford, as well as Bilkent University (Ankara, Turkey) and American University (Washington, DC). Her current research focuses on public attitudes to immigration in European democracies, including the UK. She has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals as well as three books examining opposition to immigration in Europe and the UK, and the relationship between increasing public concern about immigration and distrust in politics; Euroscepticism; and democracy in Southern Europe, with a particular focus on comparing Turkey with Southern Europe.

Publications

Books

McLaren, L. M. (2015) Immigration and Perceptions of National Political Systems in Europe. Oxford University Press: Oxford. ISBN 9780198739463

McLaren, L. (2008) Constructing Democracy in Southern Europe: A Comparative Analysis of Italy, Spain and Turkey. Series: Democratization studies (13). Routledge: London. ISBN 9780415438193

McLaren, L.M. (2006) Identity, Interests and Attitudes to European Integration. Series: Palgrave studies in European Union politics. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, UK. ISBN 9781403992819

Articles

Claassen, C. and McLaren, L. (2021). Does Immigration Produce a Public Backlash or Public Acceptance? Time Series, Cross-Sectional Evidence from 30 European Democracies, British Journal of Political Science; doi:10.1017/S0007123421000260

Claassen, C. and McLaren, L. (2021) Do Threats Galvanize Authoritarians or Mobilize Non-Authoritarians? Experimental Tests from 19 European Societies’, with Chris Claassen Political Psychology 42(4), pp. 677-94. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12720 (2021)

McLaren, L. Neundorf, A. and Paterson, I. (2020) Diversity and Perceptions of Immigration: How the Past Influences the Present, Political Studies

McLaren, L. and Paterson, I. (2019) Generational Change and Attitudes to Immigration, Journal of Ethics and Migration Studies 46(3): 665-82

McLaren, L. (5 July 2019) Anti-immigration attitudes are disappearing among younger generations in Britain, The Conversation

McLaren, L. (16 July 2019) Anti-immigration attitudes are disappearing among younger generations in Britain, The Conversation

McLaren, L. Boomgaarden, H. and Vliegenthart, R. (2018) 'News coverage and public concern about immigration in Britain', International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 30(2), pp. 173-193. (doi:10.1093/ijpor/edw033)

McLaren, L. (2016) Immigration, national identity and political trust in European democracies. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(3), pp. 379-399. (doi:10.1080/1369183X.2016.1197772)

McLaren, L. M. (2014) Immigration and trust in politics in the UK. Policy Scotland Blog,

McLaren, L. (2013) Immigration and political trust in the UK. Political Insight, 4(3), pp. 14-17. (doi:10.1111/2041-9066.12031)

McLaren, L. M. (2013) Immigration and perceptions of the political system in Britain. Political Quarterly, 84(1), pp. 90-100. (doi:10.1111/j.1467-923X.2013.02425.x)

McLaren, L.M. (2012) The cultural divide in Europe: migration, multiculturalism, and political trust. World Politics, 64(2), pp. 199-241. (doi:10.1017/S0043887112000032)

McLaren, L. (2012) Immigration and trust in politics in Britain. British Journal of Political Science, 42(1), pp. 163-185. (doi:10.1017/S0007123411000251)

McLaren, L. and Cop, B. (2011) The failure of democracy in Turkey: a comparative analysis. Government and Opposition, 46(4), pp. 485-516. (doi:10.1111/j.1477-7053.2011.01344.x)

McLaren, L. and Johnson, M. (2007) Resources, group conflict and symbols: explaining anti-immigration hostility in Britain. Political Studies, 55(4), pp. 709-732. (doi:10.1111/j.1467-9248.2007.00680.x)

McLaren, L. (2007) Explaining mass-level Euroscepticism: identity, interests, and institutional distrust. Acta Politica, 42(2-3), pp. 233-251. (doi:10.1057/palgrave.ap.5500191)

McLaren, L.M. (2007) Explaining opposition to Turkish membership of the EU. European Union Politics, 8(2), pp. 251-278. (doi:10.1177/1465116507076432)

McLaren, L.M. and Baird, V.A. (2006) Of time and causality: a simple test of the requirement of social capital in making democracy work in Italy. Political Studies, 54(4), pp. 889-897. (doi:10.1111/j.1467-9248.2006.00638.x)

McLaren, L.M. (2004) Opposition to European integration and fear of loss of national identity: debunking a basic assumption regarding hostility to the integration project. European Journal of Political Research, 43(6), pp. 895-912. (doi:10.1111/j.0304-4130.2004.00179.x)

McLaren, L.M. (2003) Anti-immigrant prejudice in Europe: contact, threat perception, and preferences for the exclusion of migrants. Social Forces, 81(3), pp. 909-936.

McLaren, L.M. and Müftüler-Baç, M. (2003) Turkish parliamentarians' perspectives on Turkey's relations with the European Union. Turkish Studies, 4(1), pp. 195-218. (doi:10.1080/714005713)

Müftüler-Bac, M. and McLaren, L. (2003) Enlargement preferences and policy-making in the European Union: impacts on Turkey. Journal of European Integration, 25(1), pp. 17-30. (doi:10.1080/0703633031000077181)

McLaren, L.M. (2002) Public support for the European Union: cost/benefit analysis or perceived cultural threat? Journal of Politics, 64(2), pp. 551-566. (doi:10.1111/1468-2508.00139)

McLaren, L.M. (2001) Immigration and the new politics of inclusion and exclusion in the European Union: the effect of elites and the EU on individual-level opinions regarding European and non-European immigrants. European Journal of Political Research, 39(1), pp. 81-108. (doi:10.1023/A:1007128912618)

McLaren, L.M. (2000) Turkey's eventual membership of the EU: Turkish elite perspectives on the issue. Journal of Common Market Studies, 38(1), pp. 117-129. (doi:10.1111/1468-5965.00211)

McLaren, L.M. (1999) Explaining right-wing violence in Germany: a time series analysis. Social Science Quarterly, 80(1), pp. 166-180.

Franklin, M., Marsh, M. and McLaren, L. (1994) Uncorking the bottle: popular opposition to European unification in the wake of Maastricht. Journal of Common Market Studies, 32(4), pp. 455-472. (doi:10.1111/j.1468-5965.1994.tb00509.x)

Book Sections

McLaren, L.M. and Guerra, S. (2013) Public opinion and the European Union. In: Cini, M. and Pérez-Solórzano Borragán, N. (eds.) European Union Politics. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK. ISBN 9780199694754

McLaren, L. (2012) Cross-national and cross-time views of immigration: evidence from the eurobarometer. In: Freeman, G., Hansen, R. and Leal, D. (eds.) Immigration and Public Opinion in Liberal Democracies. Series: Routledge research in comparative politics. Routledge: New York, NY, USA. ISBN 9780415519083

Heywood, P. and McLaren, L. (2010) Mediterranean Europe. In: Dyson, K. and Sepos, A. (eds.) Which Europe?: The Politics of Differentiated Integration. Series: Palgrave studies in European Union politics. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, UK. ISBN 9780230553774

McLaren, L. (2010) Public opinion and the EU. In: Cini, M. and Pérez-Solórzano Borragán, N. (eds.) European Union Politics. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK. ISBN 9780199548637

McLaren, L.M. (2007) Public opinion and the EU. In: Cini, M. (ed.) European Union Politics. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK. ISBN 9780199281954

McLaren, L. and Johnson, M. (2004) The rising tide of anti-immigrant sentiment in Britain. In: Park, A. (ed.) British Social Attitudes: The 21st Report. Series: British social attitudes survey series. Sage: London, UK. ISBN 9780761942788

Research Interests

My current research interests are: Public attitudes to immigration in Europe and the UK Media framing and attitudes to immigration Generational change and attitudes to immigration Trust/distrust in politics

Supervision

I am able to supervise PhD students working on the following topics:

Public opinion/attitudes

Public attitudes to immigration in Europe and the UK

Media framing and public opinion

Trust/distrust in politics

Euroscepticism amongst mass publics

Public perceptions of national identity

Democracy in Southern Europe Turkish politics and democracy