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Politicizing immigration in Western Europe

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  • Grande, Edgar
  • Schwarzbözl, Tobias
  • Fatke, Matthias

Abstract

Immigration has become a hot topic in West European politics. The factors responsible for the intensification of political conflict on this issue are a matter of considerable controversy. This holds in particular for the role of socio-economic factors and of radical right populist parties. This article explores the politicization of immigration issues and its driving forces in the electoral arena. It is based on a comparative study using both media and manifesto data covering six West European countries (Austria, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, and the UK) for a period from the early 1990s until 2017. We find no association between socio-economic factors and levels of politicization. Political conflict over immigration follows a political logic and must be attributed to parties and party competition rather than to ‘objective pressures.’ More specifically, we provide evidence that the issue entrepreneurship of radical right populist parties plays a crucial role in explaining variation in the politicization of immigration.

Suggested Citation

  • Grande, Edgar & Schwarzbözl, Tobias & Fatke, Matthias, 2019. "Politicizing immigration in Western Europe," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 26(10), pages 1444-1463.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:195427
    DOI: 10.1080/13501763.2018.1531909
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Abou-Chadi, Tarik, 2016. "Niche Party Success and Mainstream Party Policy Shifts – How Green and Radical Right Parties Differ in Their Impact," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(2), pages 417-436, April.
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    8. Swen Hutter & Edgar Grande, 2014. "Politicizing Europe in the National Electoral Arena: A Comparative Analysis of Five West European Countries, 1970–2010," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(5), pages 1002-1018, September.
    9. Zobel, Malisa & Lehmann, Pola, 2018. "Positions and saliency of immigration in party manifestos: A novel dataset using crowd coding," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 57(4), pages 1056-1083.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Anna Kyriazi & Mariana S. Mendes & Julia Rone & Manès Weisskircher, 2023. "The Politics of Emigration in Europe: A Research Agenda," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(2), pages 563-575, March.
    3. Williams, Christopher J. & Hunger, Sophia, 2022. "How challenger party issue entrepreneurship and mainstream party strategies drive public issue salience: evidence from radical-right parties and the issue of immigration," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 14(4), pages 544-565.
    4. Shouzhi Xia, 2023. "Female members of parliament, right-wing parties, and the inclusiveness of immigration policy: evidence from 26 European countries," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 56(4), pages 689-707, December.
    5. Catherine Xhardez & Mireille Paquet, 2021. "Beyond the Usual Suspects and Towards Politicisation: Immigration in Quebec’s Party Manifestos, 1991–2018," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 673-690, June.
    6. Juan Carlos Martín & Alessandro Indelicato, 2022. "A DEA MCDM Approach Applied to ESS8 Dataset for Measuring Immigration and Refugees Citizens’ Openness," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 1941-1961, December.
    7. Gessler, Theresa & Hunger, Sophia, 2022. "How the refugee crisis and radical right parties shape party competition on immigration," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 10(3), pages 524-544.
    8. Grande, Edgar, 2022. "Civil Society, Cleavage Structures, and Democracy in Germany," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Latest Ar, pages 1-20.
    9. Ifft, Jennifer & Jodlowski, Margaret, 2022. "Is ICE freezing US agriculture? Farm-level adjustment to increased local immigration enforcement," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    10. Salomon, Katja, 2020. "Dynamics of immigrant resentment in Europe," Discussion Papers, Presidential Department P 2020-002, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    11. Tapio Raunio & Wolfgang Wagner, 2021. "Contestation over Development Policy in the European Parliament," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 20-36, January.
    12. Borbáth, Endre & Hutter, Swen & Leininger, Arndt, 2023. "Cleavage politics, polarisation and participation in Western Europe," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 46(4), pages 631-651.
    13. Yaël Drunen & Bram Spruyt & Filip Droogenbroeck, 2021. "The Salience of Perceived Societal Conflict in Europe: A 27 Country Study on the Development of a Measure for Generalized Conflict Thinking," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(2), pages 595-635, December.

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