Populist Radical Right Parties and the Securitisation of Asylum Policy

Abstract

This article examines the indirect impact of populist radical right parties on the securitisation of asylum policy. The theoretical foundation of the paper draws on classic theories of securitisation, expanding them to the field of (forced) migration and combining them with theories on indirect policy impact. In a two-step analysis, this article firstly investigates changes to asylum law in Austria and Germany from 2015 to 2016, using a policy analysis. The case studies include populist radical right parties with and without parliamentary representation. Thus, the resulting stage model also accounts for gradation of the influencing factor. In the first step of the analysis a securitisation of the policy field is revealed in both cases; however, it appears to a stronger degree in Austria. The results are then related to the strength of the populist radical right parties, operationalised as poll ratings, and to election dates to capture the behaviour of government parties under growing electoral competition. In Austria, the securitisation of asylum law could be attributed to the increasing strength of FPÖ, while the results for Germany are ambiguous. Accordingly, the results suggest that securitisation of asylum policy is more likely when populist radical right parties experience strong support from the electorate.