Who's to Blame: Populist Right-Wing and Mainstream Parties' Roles in Adoption of Welfare Chauvinist Policies

The role of PRWPs in the adoption of chauvinist welfare measures is not clear. The few existing studies that focus on PRWPs’ impact on policies have adopted a broad approach, addressing, often indistinctly, immigration and integration policies. The general conclusion is that the increasing presence of PRWPs in parliaments and governments is associated with the adoption of restrictive policies. In addition, the participation of PRWPs in governments appears to be a key element in explaining the adoption of restrictive policies. Interestingly, rather than considering this outcome as a result of parliamentary or ministerial activity of PRWPs’ personnel, these studies highlight that PRWPs lack the capacity to influence policy outcome and claim that the interaction between PRWPs and mainstream parties underpins the restrictive policies toward immigrants. However, the nature of this interaction is yet to be clarified. First, studies are not clear about the different policy responses of mainstream left- and right-wing parties in light of the increasing presence of PRWPs in politics. Second, the conditions that enable PRWPs to persuade coalition partners to adopt an anti-immigrant agenda are not explored and differences in PRWPs’ levels of bargaining power have so far been ignored. Therefore, this paper aims to shed some light on PRWPs’ influence on public policies by clarifying the mechanisms and strategies whereby these bodies influence the immigrants’ entitlement to social rights. The study is based on a quantitative analysis of the legislation change from 1980 to 2014 that altered immigrants’ entitlement to social rights in 17 Western European countries. The conclusion is that the role of PRWPs in the adoption of chauvinist welfare polices cannot be ignored. In line with previous studies, this paper supports the claim that the participation of a PRWP in a coalition is a predominant mechanism of their impact on immigrants’ rights. Meanwhile, the findings confirm that PRWPs use their bargaining power inside the coalition to influence policies. Additionally, statistical analysis shows that the indirect impact of PRWPs on the adoption of welfare chauvinist policies depends on government orientation. Right-wing governments respond to an increase in PRWP participation in parliament by restricting immigrants’ entitlement to social rights; however, the left-wing response is to increase said entitlement. Finally, independently of the presence of PRWPs in politics, traditional left/right dimensions also explain the adoption of chauvinist welfare policies. The more right-wing the government, the more likely it is to restrict immigrants’ rights.