In Europe, there is a proliferation of so-called xenophobic populist parties, and their numbers are growing with every election. People are dissatisfied with immigration and are voting for change, time and time again.
On the other hand, whilst the Front National, SD, the Freedom Party, the Danish People’s Party, Elam and so on are growing at a rapid pace, immigration has only increased…
How does this actually add up?
These parties seem to have no power, no contacts or alliances, no means of exerting pressure, horse-trading or whatever else one does in politics. Isn’t it strange that they are so useless?
The usual explanation is that they are being sidelined, and all the other parties are forming a united front against them, which is why they cannot exert any influence, even though they are constantly growing. In that case, their political task should be to break out of this isolation and push through their policies by any means possible. They rarely succeed in doing so. Even the Dutch Freedom Party, led by Geert Wilders, which has enjoyed great success, seems to struggle to exert influence; they have been plagued by internal problems, with defections and the like. Nor has the AfD in Germany reached the corridors of power, let alone any real influence, although they appear to be on their way.
The only sensible anti-immigration party that really worked was Fidesz in Hungary, but they were not originally anti-immigration; rather, they were a standard centre-right party that adapted and sharpened its migration policy. They did not emerge from the anti-immigration populist movement. They were, in principle, a perfectly ordinary party with a stricter border policy, much like our own parties behaved a few decades ago, when open borders were regarded as something absurd.
Is there any point in voting for this new right-wing faction if you want to reduce immigration in your country? The statistics speak against them. There is sometimes talk of a controlled opposition’ i.e. parties that in practice do not implement their manifestos, but exist mainly to channel people’s discontent. The political landscape must not appear meaningless; the people should feel that there are parties representing their views, even if they never manage to achieve anything. I may be wrong, but its up to them to prove it. Voters’ patience will run out sooner or later.
