Conditional Extremism - When Do Exclusionary National Identities Spur Hostility to Immigrants & Radical Right Support?

Exclusionary national identity is a defining feature of radical right party ideology. Radical right politicians campaign by fomenting hostility toward immigrants and promoting a restrictive view of national identity. Yet, in my cross-national analysis of public opinion data, I find that restrictive views of national identity are not associated with support for radical right parties. Nor does hostility toward immigrants always go hand in hand with a restrictive view of national identity according to past scholarship. Why do radical right parties appear to be successful in some cases by campaigning on these issues? My dissertation explains why by showing by showing that the manifestation of latent exclusionary national identity into popular radical right support depends on the “perfect storm” of cultural and economic threats – such as increased levels of migration and unemployment – as well as the permissiveness of electoral laws – such as those in high district magnitude proportional representation systems. Analyses use data from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) 1995 and 2003 modules on National Identity.Ph.D.Political ScienceUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/77865/1/lnschram_1.pd