Ethno-regionalist parties’ construction of the collective identity in light of international immigration: ‘othering’ migrants consolidates the minority identity

Political elites contribute to the construction of the collective identity and often rely on binary categorisations of insider and outsider. Faced with international immigration, I show how ethno-regionalist parties engage in a process of ‘othering’ migrants. This results in the creation of a hierarchy of migrants who are ‘like us’, the in-group, migrants who are ‘wanted’, and those who are ‘unwanted’ because of a number of criteria, including proximity to the out-group. Based on a comparative content analysis of ethno-regionalist party manifestos, government and coalition programmes, and parliamentary debates between 1992 and 2016 in South Tyrol I show how ‘othering’ migrants serves to further consolidate the minority identity.