Immigration, left and right

Abstract

Using data from the Comparative Manifestos Project, we compare the policy positions of left and right parties with regard to immigration across 18 West European countries between 1975 and 2005. We test two main hypotheses: First, we expect that mainstream parties will exploit anti-immigrant sentiments in the electorate regardless of extreme right competition. This would indicate that the extreme Right is not the only driving force behind the recent ‘anti-immigrant turn’ of electoral politics in Western Europe. Second, we expect the mainstream Left to become increasingly critical towards immigration as its mainstream and/or extreme right competitors intensify their populist rhetoric. Being ‘tough’ on immigration is thus not a prerogative of the Right. We conclude that the impact of the extreme Right on the electoral behaviour of mainstream right parties has been overstated in previous studies

Just a Shadow? The Role of Radical Right Parties in the Politicization of Immigration, 1995–2009

“…Recent contributions to the study of radical or extreme right anti-immigrant parties indicate that the latter's impact on politics may be overestimated (cf., Akkerman, 2012;Alonso & Fonseca, 2012). 20 Our findings support this assessment.…”

“…It also provides them with strategic assets on the electoral market, challenging both left and right mainstream competitors (cf., Alonso & Fonseca, 2012;Bale, Green-Pedersen, Krouwel, Luther, & Sitter, 2010), whose more moderate positioning is challenged from both sides of the political spectrum-the radical right anti-immigrants and pro-immigrant libertarian parties. Therefore, according to the salience theory of party competition, radical right parties supposedly are key players in the politicization of immigration: they can be expected to put more emphasis on the immigration issue in public discourse than any other party family.…”

“…First, some scholars find evi-dence of an impact the electoral success of the radical right has on people's attitudes towards immigration (cf., Semyonov, Raijman, & Gorodzeisky, 2006;Sprague-Jones, 2011). Second, the experience of electoral pressure of the radical right prompts other parties to adapt their policy programs and mobilization strategies: the center-right by adopting a strategy of convergence, whereas the center-left uses convergence and divergence strategies (Meguid, 2005) (cf., van Spanje, 2010;Alonso & Fonseca, 2012). Third, there is substantial evidence for a tightening of immigration policies (cf., Givens & Luedtke, 2005).…”

“…While our findings contradict the alleged significance of populist, radical and extreme right parties discussed in the relevant literature, they support recent contributions by scholars discomforted by the lack of systematic comparative analyses and claiming that the impact of these parties on contemporary politics is clearly overestimated (cf., Akkerman, 2012;Alonso & Fonseca, 2012;Mudde, 2013).…”

How to please voters without alienating friends? Parties, organised interests and advocacy coalitions in Swiss immigration policy

“…If the outcome of this change in policy positions has been extensively documented, however, its causes and the processes leading to it remain unclear. As to causes, while this phenomenon has often been explained by party competition and the "contagion" effect of radical right parties (Van Spanje 2010), recent research has tended to downplay this element as the sole explanatory factor (Akkerman 2012;Alonso & Da Fonseca 2012). Bale and Partos (this volume) show for instance that the British Conservatives have advocated more restrictive immigration policies before the emergence of a credible electoral threat on their right, such as the UK Independence Party.…”