Social Democracy's Strategic Quandary: Responses to Immigration Challenges and Issue Capture in Europe

Abstract

How do social democrats respond to populist challengers who capture public discourse about immigration and thereby secure impressive electoral gains? While Europe's left-of-centre political parties may have once relished the problems given their conservative counterparts by radical rightists who threaten to siphon away voters, it is clear that the variable electoral fortunes of social democratic parties now leave them little room to ignore xenophobia's popular appeal. This article addresses Giddens' prescription that ‘social democrats must respond to populism without succumbing to it’ by examining social democratic strategies to combat extremist exploitation of immigration. It contends that where social democratic parties have incumbency, are unified and/or faced divided right-wing parties, and face little opinion shift, they are more likely to be complacent, fail to engage the far right, and even adopt pro-immigration positions. Where the opposite conditions hold, they are more likely to adopt more restrictive positions.

Key Words:

• Populism
• immigration
• Social Democrats
• party strategy
• Germany

Notes

‘Far right rides to victory in Bremen on anti-refugee tide’, The Times, 30 September 1991.

Jaime Oreja, former interior minister, in ‘Spain tackles immigration to stem rise of far right,’ Agence France Press, 26 April 2002.

‘Racism and xenophobia in Europe’, Eurobarometer 47(1) (Spring 1997).

‘Transatlantic Trends/Immigration: Key Findings 2008’. Available at http://www.transatlantictrends.org/trends/doc/TTI_2008_Final.pdf. Accessed 30 August, 2010.

European Commission, Eurobarometer 74 (2010).

Transatlantic Trend Survey, 2005, reports that 18.2% of Republikaner and German People's Union voters place themselves on the left of a seven-point left–right ideological scale, as do 13.9% of French Front National voters. The same study finds 27.3% of left-identifiers place immigration as the most important issue as they vote (compared to 41% of right-identifiers).

Survey by Friedrich Ebert Foundation, results reported in ‘Survey Findings on far-right views give Germany its latest Führer furore’, Irish Times, 15 October 2010.

‘German election campaign takes a racist turn’, Time, 18 August 2009.

‘German party wonders what's left: the Social Democrats, renouncing a long-held policy, have agreed to help Helmut Kohl tighten country's liberal asylum laws', The Globe and Mail, 18 November 1992.

European Commission, Eurobarometer 35 (1991).

‘Germany searches soul with debate on citizenship’, International Herald Tribune, 4 February 1999.

‘Christian Democrats seek far-right votes in attempt to rebuild’, Daily Telegraph, 13 December 2000.

‘Surge in support for far right ahead of poll reflects centre-left crisis across EU: Social Democrats are likely to win Sunday's election but result could be worst ever’, The Guardian, 25 September 2008.

‘Germany searches soul with debate on citizenship’, International Herald Tribune, 4 February 1999.

‘Neo-Nazi tactics prove party cannot be ignored’, Irish Times, 26 October 2005.