The extreme-right and immigration policy-making: Measuring direct and indirect effects

Abstract:

The question of who makes immigration policy focuses on the relationship between policy actors and outcomes, but is directly related to the constraints that shape the way that policy-makers make policy. While the radical right in Europe has been generally isolated from making policy, it has been a force in constraining policy development in many countries. A decade ago, Martin Baldwin-Edwards and the author outlined an approach for understanding the politics of immigration. Although they made many references to the extreme right, they never integrated these references into their analytical framework. This contribution is an attempt to deal with that oversight. It first develops an approach to understanding impact on politics and policy, with reference to the French National Front. The objective is to find a way to understand impact in relation to the constraints within which policy-makers shape policy. In the concluding section, the author returns to an analysis of implications for comparative analysis.