The Rise of the Politics of National Identity: New Evidence from Western Europe

Abstract

Numerous West European democracies are witnessing unprecedented levels of electoral support for the populist radical right parties. By focusing on four such parties in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands, we demonstrate that the issue of immigration is at the core of their populist appeal. We argue that these countries’ electorates already came to be politically divided over immigration to the extent that one could talk about the emergence of a new cleavage—ethnic vs. civic citizenship. We further posit that immigration, intensified by the unrelenting process of globalization, will continue to affect political dynamics of the recipient states.