The conflict between left and right on the policy of immigration

Abstract

Right-wing populism, since the beginning of the twenty-first century, has had notable impact on politicizing migration and immigration in Western Europe. In contrast to economic concerns about immigration, the far right's ethnocentric, anti-immigration identity politics became more prevalent in the early 2000s. This study investigates the extent to which the far right's exploitation of multiculturalism and ethnocentrism in Western European party systems remains unrelated to economic conflict. In nine Western European nations, party competition is structured by a more recent multiculturalism-ethnocentrism dimension, and we examine how it interacts with the traditional left-right economic dimension. In 1999, the positions of political parties on multiculturalism and economics were largely distinct; however, by 2009, the two dimensions had become highly correlated, and by 2014, the correlation had grown even stronger. Both the de facto adoption of rightist economic policies by the extreme right and the mainstream right's growing ethnocentrism have contributed to this shift. Some claim that the far right is driving this realignment, and the policy implications are discussed.