Reaching out to close the border? The transnationalization of anti-immigration actors

Most contemporary anti-immigration actors in western Europe are not merely “nationalist”, but also positively identify as Europeans. To what extent and how do they reach out to close the borders of Europe? Research on the transnationalization of anti-immigration actors has mainly focused on social media data, often lacking information on the substance behind online ties. This article draws on structured interviews conducted with leading anti-immigrant actors within political parties, social movement organizations, and think-tanks in Germany and Norway. Based on this qualitative methodological approach, we assess the substance of anti-immigration actors’ transnationalism. More precisely, we study what forms of strong and weak transnational ties matter, distinguishing between inspiration, interaction, and cooperation. Moreover, we outline and explain differences between anti-immigration actors in both countries and among party politicians, social movement activists, and knowledge producers of and beyond the classical far-right. The results indicate that anti-immigration activists overwhelmingly draw on transnational ties, albert weak ones, in their political activism. Crucially, though, several individual brokers are the exception to the rule, relying on strong ties. The findings have important implications on how to understand anti-immigration transnationalism, contributing to ongoing debates in party politics research and social movement studies.