Reaching Out to Close the Borders: Understanding Mobilization against Migration across Europe

Abstract

Political mobilization against immigration has gained momentum across Europe. Today, anti-immigration sentiments represent the most effective trigger of social mobilization in Europe. This mobilization can be seen in the growing electoral support for populist radical right parties, which mobilize precisely, though not exclusively, on nativism and opposition to migration. It is also clearly visible through the swift spread of grassroots anti-immigration activism and the rise of anti-immigrant vigilante groups and movements, such as PEGIDA and the Nordic Resistance Movement. Extant literature focused extensively on the emergence of radical right parties in their national settings, and on the role of national legacy media and social media in their growth. However, much less attention has been given to a key trend in contemporary anti-immigration politics, namely that far right parties and anti-immigration movements are increasingly reaching out – acting transnationally – to close national borders. In this panel – which draws heavily on work within the project Mobilization Against Migration (MAM), based at the Peace Research Institute Oslo – we will approach the transnational dimensions of anti-immigration from several vantage points. Firstly, how and why does anti-immigrant mobilization gain visibility in mainstream media throughout Europe? Secondly, to what extent does anti-immigration activists interact, share repertoires and frames of action, draw inspiration from each other, across state borders? Thirdly, what can our understanding of the transnational dynamics of racism teach us about anti-immigration movement in Europe? And lastly, what are the major political outcomes that anti-immigration mobilization have produced in Europe over the past decade, and what are the main mechanisms that have produced such outcomes? Methodologically, the papers in this panel are diverse (from statistical analysis of large-n datasets to network analysis and ethnographic interviews), all drawing on new and original data, ultimately with a mixed methods ambition.

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