The Global Compact for Migration: A Case of De-Politicization?

Abstract

In a political context characterized by democracies with fading partisan identities, political entrepreneurs in the form of radical right parties turned immigration into a powerful subject of issue competition on the basis of a cultural or identity cleavage.1 The literature has illustrated that political parties can respond to this challenge through various strategies (e.g., through ‘accommodation’, ‘adversarial’ and ‘diffusion’ strategies). In this article, we develop an innovative analytical framework to examine strategies of de-politicization in the context of the Global Compact for Migration (GCM) in three countries; France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Through this analytical framework, we aim to generate new insights in the dynamics of strategic action through de-politicization, looking at the differentiations between political parties. In the conclusion, we formulate hypotheses for the varying choices in de-politicization strategies, highlighting why some strategies are more prominent in some countries. The application of the analytical framework on rich empirics could serve as a basis for further research on de-politicization strategies in multiple contexts, looking at the factors that explain the variation between political actors.In a political context characterized by democracies with fading partisan identities, political entrepreneurs in the form of radical right parties turned immigration into a powerful subject of issue competition on the basis of a cultural or identity cleavage.1 The literature has illustrated that political parties can respond to this challenge through various strategies (e.g., through ‘accommodation’, ‘adversarial’ and ‘diffusion’ strategies). In this article, we develop an innovative analytical framework to examine strategies of de-politicization in the context of the Global Compact for Migration (GCM) in three countries; France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Through this analytical framework, we aim to generate new insights in the dynamics of strategic action through de-politicization, looking at the differentiations between political parties. In the conclusion, we formulate hypotheses for the varying choices in de-politicization strategies, highlighting why some strategies are more prominent in some countries. The application of the analytical framework on rich empirics could serve as a basis for further research on de-politicization strategies in multiple contexts, looking at the factors that explain the variation between political actors.