Variation of Policy-Success: Radical-Right Populism and Migration Policy

How do radical-right populist parties influence government policies in their core issue of immigration? This paper provides a systematic analysis of the direct and indirect effect of these anti-immigration parties on migration policy reforms in 17 West European countries between 1980 and 2014. A theoretical model is developed to explain variations in migration policy success of the radical right by the multi-faceted nature of migration policy. Treating migration policy as uniform policy area conceals the policy success of radical-right populist parties. The large-N analysis of policy changes suggests that the radical-right has an overall limited impact on migration policies but reveals significant variations. Regarding immigration policies, radical-right populist parties did not alter the policy course of increased liberalization over time. But they manage to enact more restrictive reforms in integration policy when participating in government. Anti-immigration mobilization is, therefore, most likely to influence the rights of immigrants rather than policies regulating the number of immigrants. This empirical pattern is not explained by parties' policy preferences, but rather by external constraints preventing governing parties to translate their restrictive immigration policy preferences into policy outputs.