Anti-Immigrant Populism
Anti-immigration is opposition to immigration exists in all states with immigration and has become a significant political issue in many countries. Immigration in the modern sense refers to movement of people from one state or territory to another state or territory where they are not citizens. Illegal immigration is immigration in contravention of a state’s immigration laws. Anti-immigration ranges from calls for various immigration reforms to proposals to completely restrict immigration to one’s nation; these often also include measures to combat immigration of existing citizens.
According to an article by Hajo G. Boomgaarden and Rens Vliegenthart, anti-immigrant populism is on the rise throughout western Europe. “Traditionally, economic and immigration-related factors are used to explain support for anti-immigrant parties at the aggregate level,” they said and continued “Some critics of immigration argue that the presence of immigrants may distort the national identity of the native population. That means that the native population opposes immigration because they fear they may lose their sense of belonging to their own nation, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, language and politics.”
Meanwhile, as Mark Porubcansky wrote in an article, in Slovenia, an anti-immigration party came in first in elections in June 2018. And an upstart anti-immigration party is running neck-and-neck with traditional parties ahead of September elections in Sweden in 2018. “The countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary are even more entrenched in their populist anti-immigrant politics. The appeal of the anti-immigrant far right, in this case the National Front in France, is also on the mind of the French president. As a candidate, Macron praised Merkel’s liberal immigration policies, but after he was elected, he tried to tighten up immigration laws. Across the Europe, with some exceptions, anti-immigration populism is driving the agenda,” wrote Porubcansky.
Migration crises, and the chaos they engender, can also bolster support for populist radical-right and anti-immigration platforms, says Martin Schain in a report titled “Shifting Tides: Radical-Right Populism and Immigration Policy in Europe and the United States”. The report states that the electoral breakthroughs and success of European parties that campaign on such platforms long predate the recent migration crisis, but the pace and scale of arrivals in 2015 and 2016 fueled a radical-right discourse of borders being out of control and dangerous immigrants entering without proper vetting. Some other excerpts from the report are as follows:
“The success of the German far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) in September 2017 and the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) a month later was directly related to a hardening of views by voters on both the right and the left in light of the refugee crisis. In Austria, the largest parties on the right gained votes, while those on the left either lost votes (the Greens) or barely held their own (the Social Democrats). The FPÖ, which entered government for the first time in ten years, captured a number of key ministries. In Europe, the 2015–16 migration crisis not only strained migration-management and asylum institutions, it also posed a more existential challenge to European integration.
“Feelings of insecurity linked to migration have been underpinned by a series of terrorist attacks in Europe and the US. In fact, very few of these attacks were perpetrated by asylum seekers, or by jihadists (13 out of 142 classified by Europol in 2016). Nevertheless, some high-profile attacks, such as the November 2015 attacks in Paris, were carried out by people with an immigration background, heightening concerns about integration and the vulnerability of some first- and second-generation immigrants to radicalization. The fear of future attacks remains high and is played upon by some politicians with populist radical-right views.
“Trust in politicians and institutions has been decreasing across Europe is not the fault of populist radical-right parties, but rather a symptom of broader societal trends that encourage their support. Established politicians may need to do some potentially painful soul-searching to (re-)connect with their modern base. A whole-of-society approach must also include a commitment to uprooting prejudicial attitudes and fighting discrimination in the workplace, housing, education, and other key social areas by putting sufficient resources and political support behind antidiscrimination campaigns and programs.”
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Goldschmidt, T. (2015). Anti-immigrant sentiment and majority support for three types of welfare: The case of Germany. European Societies 17(5): 620-652. doi:10.1080/14616696.2015.1088959 (A pre-print version of this article is available here)
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Erlingsson, G.Ó., Loxbo, K., Öhrvall, R. (2012). Anti-immigrant parties, local presence and electoral success. Local Government Studies. 38. 817-839.
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Meeusen, C. (2014). The parent-child similarity in cross-group friendship and anti-immigrant prejudice: A study among 15-year adolescents and both their parents in Belgium. Journal of Research in Personality, 50 (1), 46-55.
Continuity and change in anti-immigrant discourse in Italy: An analysis of the visual propaganda of the Lega Nord — JE Richardson, M Colombo; Journal of Language and Politics, 2013, 12 (2), 180-202
Burgoon, Brian, and Matthijs Rooduijn (forthcoming) “‘Immigrationization’ of welfare politics? Anti-immigration and welfare attitudes in context.” West European Politics.
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Vliegenthart, R., Boomgaarden, H. G., & van Spanje, J. (2012). Anti-immigrant party support and media visibility: a cross-party, over-time perspective. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 22(3), 315-358. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457289.2012.693933
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van Spanje, J., & van der Brug, W. (2009). Being intolerant of the intolerant: the exclusion of Western European anti-immigration parties and its consequences for party choice. Acta Politica, 44(4), 353-384. https://doi.org/10.1057/ap.2009.7
Damstra, Alyt & Jacobs, Laura & Boukes, Mark & Vliegenthart, Rens. (2019). The impact of immigration news on anti-immigrant party support: unpacking agenda-setting and issue ownership effects over time. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties. 1-22. 10.1080/17457289.2019.1607863.
Boomgaarden, Hajo & VLIEGENTHART, RENS. (2009). How News Content Influences Anti-immigration Attitudes: Germany, 1993–2005. European Journal of Political Research. 48. 516 – 542. 10.1111/j.1475-6765.2009.01831.x.
Boomgaarden, Hajo & Vliegenthart, Rens. (2007). Explaining the Rise of Anti-Immigrant Parties: The Role of News Media Content. Electoral Studies. 26. 404-417. 10.1016/j.electstud.2006.10.018.
Boomgaarden, Hajo & Vliegenthart, R.. (2007). Explaining the rise of anti-immigrant parties: The role of news media content in the Netherlands. Tijdschrift Voor Communicatiewetenschappen. 26. 404-417.
Heiss, R., von Sikorski, C., & Matthes, J. (2019). Populist Twitter posts in news stories: Statement recognition and the polarizing effects on candidate evaluation and anti-immigrant attitudes. Journalism Practice, 13(6), 742-758.
Rethinking Anti-Immigration Rhetoric after the Oslo and Utøya Terror Attacks — Wiggen, Mette; New Political Science: Right-Wing Populism and the Media, 01 December 2012, Vol.34(4), pp.585-604.
Radical right success and mainstream parties’ anti-immigrant policy shifts (with Werner Krause), Democratic Audit UK, 07/2018.