Immigration and right-wing populism: An origin story

Abstract

Previous studies of right-wing populist (RWP) parties primarily investigate how domestic factors as well as external forces, such as immigration, incite the emergence and electoral success of RWP parties. Studies examining the link between migration and far-right support have found mixed empirical results, using various measures of immigration. In this article, we construct our own measures of immigration that highlight the economic and cultural dimensions of migrant-sending states in relation to migrant-receiving states. Our empirical analysis of 15 Western European countries uses these measures to examine whether the economic and cultural characteristics of migrant-sending states can enhance RWP success in wealthy, advanced democracies. We find some evidence that relatively large economic and cultural differences between natives and immigrants are conducive to RWP support in Western European countries. But the findings suggest that future research should identify and examine other factors that strengthen or undermine the extent to which RWP parties can make electoral gains by focusing on immigration.

The Rise of Populism and the Revenge of the Places That Don’t Matter

“…The anti-elite discourse goes hand in hand with an anti-immigrant stance. Whether it is the arrival of Latino immigrants to the US or the presence of Muslim minorities in France, Germany, the Netherlands, or Sweden, the increasing racial and ethnic diversity of most Western societies has allowed immigration to be portrayed as a threat to the national identity to that part of the electorate which is vulnerable to such messaging from populist politicians [36,56,57]. In recent elections, traditionally non-populist parties -such as the Republican party in the US or the Conservatives in the UK -have adopted this anti-immigration stance as well.…”

Bridges to Studying: Educational Migration in the Scope of Political Transformation in Post Covid-19 Pandemic in Europe

“…Many researchers have argued that aspect of immigration is the key influential factor for the rise of the transformation process across countries yet, other scholarly works have sided differently with this notion. They argue that although immigration maybe the main causal effect, other factors such as economic, cultural and other social dimensions linked with migration provides a strong basis on which these populist movements takes it roots for political agenda [Shehaj et al 2019;Arzheimer 2009]. In this section, the authors examine several key indicators which have influenced the political transformation in the modern politics of Europe.…”

“…The fear and anxiety of losing one's job coupled with the competitive nature in the labour market was an actual condition of the elevation of populism in several parts of Europe from 2013-2015. As argued by [Shehaj et al 2019], the movements of people from a lower region to a higher-class society pushes psychological constraint on natives on the point of being pushed away from employment opportunities. Here, inexperience and low skilled citizens in host countries get enraged about the prospect of competition in job positions, especially in crunch economic times [Shehaj et al 2019;Golder 2003].…”

“…As argued by [Shehaj et al 2019], the movements of people from a lower region to a higher-class society pushes psychological constraint on natives on the point of being pushed away from employment opportunities. Here, inexperience and low skilled citizens in host countries get enraged about the prospect of competition in job positions, especially in crunch economic times [Shehaj et al 2019;Golder 2003]. Interestingly, the grievances take a different turn when immigrants are political mobilized.…”

“…Interestingly, the grievances take a different turn when immigrants are political mobilized. Researches done across some part of Europe confirmed that most far-right political leaders use the basis of economic benefits against immigration to induce mostly young voters, loweducated and either unemployed or into manual labourer [Shehaj et al 2019;Arzheimer 2009;Givens 2007].…”