Impact of Extreme Right Parties on Immigration Policy : Comparing Britain, France and Italy

Drawing on a mixed research methodology with a strong qualitative character, this book traces the political impact of the British National Party in the UK, the Front National in France and the Lega Nord in Italy by exploring their contagion effects on immigration politics and policy in particular over the patterns of inter-party competition, public behaviour and policy developments. This book suggests that extreme right party impact on immigration politics and policy is an outcome of the extreme right parties’ electoral threats to established parties alongside the agency of mainstream political elites. It also highlights the decline in the intensity of extreme right parties’ contagion effects on public attitudes to immigration throughout the late 2000s or the potential overstatement of this political process in the past. Featuring detailed case studies of the UK, France and Italy as three mature multi-party democracies where the extreme right was on the rise during the past decade, this work will be of great interest to students and scholars of populism, extremism, European politics and comparative and party politics. Cover 1 Impact of Extreme Right Parties on Immigration Policy 2 Title Page 6 Copyright Page 7 Dedication 8 Table of Contents 10 List of figures 12 List of tables 15 Preface 17 List of abbreviations 19 1 Introduction 22 Research on the political impact of ERPs 23 Combining ERP literature with immigration studies 26 Plan of the book 28 2 Research methods and the ERP party family 30 Research questions 30 Understanding ERP impact on immigration politics and policy 33 Explanatory factors 34 Comparative research design 37 Research methods 37 The search for consensus: the extreme right party family 43 ERP as a party family 44 Typology of ERPs 46 3 Case selection and background 48 Case selection and choice for a most similar systems research design 48 Electoral systems 51 ERPs’ development until 2001 54 Immigration in the UK, France and Italy 62 Conclusions 71 4 The BNP impact on British immigration politics and policy 73 The 2001 general election – Labour’s second landslide 74 BNP development between 2001 and 2005 82 BNP impact on immigration policy under Blair’s second term 86 The 2005 general election – Blair’s third victory 94 The BNP development between 2005 and 2009 103 The BNP impact on immigration policy under Labour’s third term 107 Conclusions 112 5 The FN impact on French immigration politics and policy 115 The 2002 presidential elections – a political earthquake 116 The FN: from 2002 to 2007 123 FN impact on immigration policy under Chirac’s presidential term 126 The 2007 presidential elections – Le Pen’s slump 134 FN development from 2007 to 2009 143 FN impact on immigration policy between 2007 and 2009 145 Conclusions 150 6 The LN impact on Italian immigration politics and policy 153 The 2001 general election – the return of Berlusconi 154 LN trajectory 2001–2008 161 The LN impact on immigration policy during Berlusconi’s second term 167 The 2008 general election – the LN upsurge 174 The LN’s development between 2008 and 2009 182 The LN impact on immigration policy between 2008 and 2009 184 Conclusions 191 7 Conclusions 194 ERPs’ impact on inter- party competition 195 ERPs’ impact on public attitudes 201 ERPs’ impact on the development of immigration policy 205 Future research 222 Notes 224 Bibliography 231 Index 262 Comparing Britain, France and Italy "Drawing on a mixed research methodology with a strong qualitative character, this book traces the political impact of the British National Party in the UK, the Front National in France and the Lega Nord in Italy by exploring their contagion effects on immigration politics and policy in particular over the patterns of inter-party competition, public behaviour and policy developments.This book suggests that extreme right party impact on immigration politics and policy is an outcome of the extreme right parties' electoral threats to established parties alongside the agency of mainstream political elites. It also highlights the decline in the intensity of extreme right parties' contagion effects on public attitudes to immigration throughout the late 2000s or the potential overstatement of this political process in the past.Featuring detailed case studies of the UK, France and Italy as three mature multi-party democracies where the extreme right was on the rise during the past decade, this work will be of great interest to students and scholars of populism, extremism, European politics and comparative and party politics"-- "This book focuses on the political impact of extreme-right parties on immigration politics and policy"--