Between opportunities and constraints: right-wing populists as designers of migrant integration policy

Anti-immigrant claims are seen as key to the success of populist radical right parties (PRRPs) in parliamentary opposition. Yet migrant integration policies adopted by PRRPs in executive power are still a blind spot in research. Some scholars assess their policy impact as weak and attribute this to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Policy studies 2023-03, Vol.44 (2), p.155-173
Main Authors: Gruber, Oliver, Rosenberger, Sieglinde
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Austria
Coalition governments
Design
Extremism
Immigrants
Migrant integration
Migration
NGOs
Nongovernmental organizations
policy constraints
Policy implementation
Policy making
Populism
Presidential powers
public policy
Radicalism
Right wing politics
right-wing populism
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Summary:Anti-immigrant claims are seen as key to the success of populist radical right parties (PRRPs) in parliamentary opposition. Yet migrant integration policies adopted by PRRPs in executive power are still a blind spot in research. Some scholars assess their policy impact as weak and attribute this to a lack of robust policy suggestions, others point to their taming by mainstream coalition partners and by government responsibility. Recently though, PRRPs have found more favourable political opportunities in the increased salience of migration and a rightward shift of centre-right parties. Drawing on policy documents from the Austrian coalition government of the radical right Austrian Freedom Party and the centre-right Austrian People's Party (2017-2019), this paper investigates policy designs and constraints in the area of migrant integration. Our study points out the impact of PRRPs in government on integration policy through strengthening regulatory instruments, weakening distributive instruments and using organizational instruments to centralize policy implementation at the expense of NGOs. Yet this approach not only alters the substance of policy designs, the radical right also imprints a populist mode of confrontational and accelerated policy-making. Against these changes, taming is left to political and especially institutional constraints at national and international levels.
ISSN:0144-2872
1470-1006
DOI:10.1080/01442872.2021.2019212