Right Wing Reactionary Populist Radicalism and Migration in Europe

Abstract

The main purpose of this essay is to assess the relationship between populism and immigration in the European Union. Based on an extensive literature review on the current state of populist movements in the EU as well as on the findings of two sets of comparative fieldwork conducted in various European countries in 2017 (Germany, France, Italy, Greece, and the Netherlands) and between 2020 and 2021 (Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands), the essay seeks to understand and explain the relevance of the debates on migration, refugees and Islam with the rise of radical right-wing populism as well as with the current state of the EU. The essay discusses the impact of the growing populist and anti-Muslim sentiments on migration and asylum policies in the EU.