Some Conceptual Issues and Problems in the Comparison of Anti-Immigrant Parties in Western Europe

Abstract

In this article it is argued that the conceptualization of anti-immigrant parties has been inadequate. Starting from the non-theoretical concept of anti-immigrant parties, three main concepts are discussed and defined: protest parties, racist parties and extreme-right parties. Each of these concepts has its own emphasis and highlights a specific feature of a political family in statu nascendi. Protest parties are non-revolutionary anti-system parties; racist parties are single-issue parties, while extreme-right parties are revolutionary anti-system parties. The article develops a typology of anti-immigrant parties that runs from the general and diffuse (protest parties) to the specific (racist) and ideologically articulate (extreme right). The concepts are not nested but are overlapping, yet they allow us to differentiate between different types of anti-immigrant parties in Western Europe. Protest parties are primarily a product of political alienation, racist parties arise from misgivings about national immigration policy, while extreme-right parties implicitly or explicitly present a political tradition that reacts against the spirit of international capitalism. Researchers who concentrate on electorates tend to use the concept of protest party, those who study militants tend towards the concept of racist parties while those who analyse party programmes and ideology often use the label extreme right.