The centre no longer holds: the Lega, Matteo Salvini and the remaking of Italian immigration politics

This article asks how policy responses to migration in Italy have been shaped both by issue salience and by changing configurations on the centre right of Italian party politics both prior to and following the 2015 'migration crisis'. We show that, first, the increased politicisation of &#...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of ethnic and migration studies Vol. 48; no. 2; pp. 441 - 460
Main Authors Dennison, James, Geddes, Andrew
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 25.01.2022
Carfax Publishing Company, Abingdon Science Park
Subjects
Campaigns
European Union
Immigration
Immigration policy
Imposition
Interest groups
issue salience
Italy
Lega
Migrants
Migration
migration crisis
policy drift
Political asylum
Political attitudes
Political parties
Politics
Populism
Prevention
Public opinion
Public policy
Radicalism
Refugees
Salvini
Italy
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Summary:This article asks how policy responses to migration in Italy have been shaped both by issue salience and by changing configurations on the centre right of Italian party politics both prior to and following the 2015 'migration crisis'. We show that, first, the increased politicisation of 'irregular' arrivals into Italy after 2015 changed migration from a relatively 'quiet' policy issue to one of 'loud' politics meaning that it was highly salient to the public. This salience significantly advantaged the Lega, who by this point had already transformed into an archetypal, European populist radical right party, but could now campaign successfully nationally and dominate the nominal 'centre-right' coalition. Second, the imposition when in government between June 2018 and September 2019 by the Lega of policies for migrants and asylum-seekers that focussed solely on prevention and removal and ended what remained of prior policy drift. We show that both trends conform to theoretical expectations regarding the relative power of interest groups and public opinion over public policy that are contingent on public issue salience, which we show to be the most plausible determinant of variation in migration policy, rather than public attitudes or party positions, during the period.
ISSN:1369-183X
1469-9451
1469-9451
DOI:10.1080/1369183X.2020.1853907