In many democracies worldwide, anti-immigration politicians are prosecuted for hate speech. Cases of prosecuted (former) party leaders include Daniel Féret in Belgium, Nick Griffin and JohnTyndall in Britain, Jean-Marie Le Pen in France, Guenter Deckert and Udo Voigt in Germany, and Joop Glimmerveen, Hans Janmaat and Geert Wilders in the Netherlands. Hate speech prosecution of politicians has not been restricted to party leaders only, however. For example, over 20 Dutch and over 30 Belgian politicians have been prosecuted for hate speech since 1975.
Such prosecution may influence the quality of democracy in these countries: on the one hand, it serves to eradicate racial discrimination, thereby improving democratic quality; on the other, it restricts free competition for political power, which is a necessary condition for democracy. Where citizens are aware of such prosecution, it may affect their satisfaction with democratic performance.
This paper addresses the question of effects of hate speech prosecution of politicians on such satisfaction based on panel survey data from a representative sample of the Dutch citizenry. We find that the 2009 court decision to prosecute MP Wilders increased democratic performance satisfaction among multiculturalists, and decreased it among radical assimilationists.
