Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T09:51:15.308Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Strategic Logic of Islamophobic Populism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2020

Lacin Idil Oztig Open the ORCID record for Lacin Idil Oztig [Opens in a new window] ,
Turkan Ayda Gurkan  and
Kenan Aydin
Lacin Idil Oztig*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science and International Relations, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey
Turkan Ayda Gurkan
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science and International Relations, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey
Kenan Aydin
Affiliation:
Department of Business, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey
*
*Corresponding author. Email: loztig@yildiz.edu.tr
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In Europe, the rise of populism is coupled with the rise of Islamophobia, vividly evident with exponential increases in votes for anti-Islam political parties in national elections. These parties portray Islam and Muslims as threats and maintain a position that Islam (as a religion and culture) is a threatening contrast to European values. By analysing Islamophobic discourses of the French National Front, Alternative for Germany and the Dutch Freedom Party, this article argues that Islamophobic populism targets not only Muslims, but also the incumbent leaders. By looking at the current dynamics of public opinion, this article explains how Islamophobic populism functions as an electoral strategy.

Keywords

Islamophobic populismanti-Islam political partieselectoral strategyvotersEurope
Type
Article
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 56 , Issue 3 , July 2021 , pp. 446 - 464
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Government and Opposition Limited and Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abts, K and Rummens, S (2016) Populism versus Democracy. Political Studies 55(2), 405–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, C (2010) Islamophobia. Burlington: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Alouane, R (2019) Islam, Made in France? Debating the Reform of Muslim Organizations and Foreign Funding for Religion. Order from Chaos blog. Brookings, 1 May, www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2019/05/01/islam-made-in-france-debating-the-reform-of-muslim-organizations-and-foreign-funding-for-religion/.Google Scholar
Alternative for Germany (2017) Manifesto for Germany: The Political Programme of the Alternative for Germany. https://www.afd.de/wp-content/uploads/sites/111/2017/04/2017-04-12_afd-grundsatzprogramm-englisch_web.pdf.Google Scholar
Arzheimer, K (2015) The AfD: Finally a Successful Right-Wing Populist Eurosceptic Party for Germany? West European Politics 38(3), 535–556.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baines, PR, Harris, P and Lewis, BR (2002) The Political Marketing Planning Process: Improving Image and Message in Strategic Target Areas. Marketing Intelligence and Planning 20(1), 6–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batchelor, T (2017) Geert Wilders Brands Mark Rutte ‘Prime Minister of the Foreigners’ as Dutch Elections Loom. Independent, 13 March, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/dutch-election-netherlands-vote-geert-wilders-mark-rutte-turkey-row-tv-debate-foreigners-immigrants-a7628236.html.Google Scholar
Bayraklı, E and Hafez, F (eds) (2019) European Islamophobia Report 2018. Istanbul: SETA. https://setav.org/en/assets/uploads/2019/09/EIR_2018.pdf.Google Scholar
BBC News (2010) Surge for Dutch Anti-Islam Freedom Party. 10 June, www.bbc.com/news/10271153.Google Scholar
BBC News (2017a) Dutch Election: European Relief as Mainstream Triumphs. 16 March, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39297355.Google Scholar
BBC News (2017b) French Election 2017: Who Are the Final Candidates? 24 April, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38220690.Google Scholar
Betz, HG and Meret, S (2009) Revisiting Lepanto: The Political Mobilization Against Islam in Contemporary Western Europe. Patterns of Prejudice 43(3–4), 313–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchanan, RT (2015) Marine Le Pen to Face Court for Comparing Muslim Prayers in the Street to Nazi Occupation. Independent, 23 September, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/marine-le-pen-to-face-court-for-comparing-muslim-prayers-in-the-street-to-nazi-occupation-10513920.html.Google Scholar
Canovan, M (1999) Trust the People! Populism and the Two Faces of Democracy. Political Studies 47(1), 2–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canovan, M (2002) Taking Politics to the People: Populism as the Ideology of Democracy. In Mény, Y and Surel, Y (eds), Democracies and the Populist Challenge. Houndmills: Palgrave, pp. 25–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, S (2017) German Elections of 2017: Full Results. Guardian, 25 September, www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2017/sep/24/german-elections-2017-latest-results-live-merkel-bundestag-Alternative for Germany.Google Scholar
Curtis, EE (2013) The Black Muslim Scare of the Twentieth Century: The History of State Islamophobia and Its Post-9/11 Variations. In Ernst, CW (ed.), Islamophobia in America: The Anatomy of Intolerance. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 75–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cwalina, W, Falkowski, A and Newman, BI (2011) Political Marketing. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Damstra, A, Jacobs, L, Boukes, M and Vliegenthart, R (2019) The Impact of Immigration News on Anti-Immigrant Party Support: Unpacking Agenda-Setting and Issue Ownership Effects Over Time. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, published early online, April. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457289.2019.1607863.Google Scholar
Dancycier, RM (2017) Dilemmas of Inclusion: Muslims in European Politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Deutsche Welle (2015) Anti-Immigrant AfD party Attacks Merkel at Hanover Convent. 29 November, www.dw.com/en/anti-immigrant-afd-party-attacks-merkel-at-hanover-convention/a-18882918.Google Scholar
Deutsche Welle (2017a) Attacks on German Muslims ‘Becoming More Violent’. 18 August, www.dw.com/en/attacks-on-german-muslims-becoming-more-violent/a-40152226.Google Scholar
Deutsche Welle (2017b) Alternative for Germany. What You Need to Know About Germany's Far Right Party. 24 September, www.dw.com/en/Alternative for Germany-what-you-need-to-know-about-germanys-far-right-party/a-37208199.Google Scholar
Deutsche Welle (2017c) Dutch PM Rutte Issues an Open Letter Wooing Right-Wing Voters. 23 January, www.dw.com/en/dutch-pm-rutte-issues-open-letter-wooing-right-wing-voters/a-37242525.Google Scholar
Express (2017) Dutch PM Mark Rutte Causes Outrage Branding Muslim Call to Prayer ‘Horrific’ Whining. 24 February, /www.express.co.uk/news/world/771679/prime-minister-netherlands-mark-rutte-muslim-call-to-prayer-horrific-whining.Google Scholar
Farand, C (2017) Marine Le Pen Launches Presidential Campaign With Hardline Speech. Independent, 5 February, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/marine-le-pen-front-national-speech-campaign-launch-islamic-fundamentalism-french-elections-a7564051.html.Google Scholar
Federal Returning Officer (2013) Official Provisional Result of the 2013 Bundestag Election. 23 September, www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/info/presse/mitteilungen/bundestagswahl-2013/2013-09-23-vorlaeufiges-amtliches-ergebnis-der-bundestagswahl-2013.html.Google Scholar
Friedman, U (2017) ‘We Don't Like Islamic Invasion': The Leader of Germany's Rising Right Speaks Out. Atlantic, 2 October, www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/10/gauland-afd-germany/541530/.Google Scholar
Frizell, S (2015) The Controversial Group Behind the Muhammad Cartoon Contest, Time, 4 May, https://time.com/3845346/pamela-geller-afdiamerican-freedom-defense-initiative.Google Scholar
Giebler, H and Reger, S (2018) Who Votes Right-Wing Populists? Geographical and Individual Factors in Seven German State Elections. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/wiso/14560.pdf.Google Scholar
Goodliffe, G (2015) Europe's Salience and ‘Owning’ Euroscepticism: Explaining the Front National's Victory in the 2014 European Elections in France. French Politics 13(4), 324–345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hafez, F (2014) Shifting Borders: Islamophobia as Common Ground for Building Pan-European Right-Wing Unity. Patterns of Prejudice 48(5), 479–499.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hafez, F (2016) Pegida in Parliament? Explaining the Failure of Pegida in Austria. German Politics and Society 34(4), 101–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halliday, F (1999) ‘Islamophobia’ Reconsidered. Ethnic and Racial Studies 22(5), 892–902.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Henley, J (2017a) Netherlands PM Says Those who Don't Respect Customs Should Leave. Guardian, 23 January, www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/23/netherlands-pm-mark-rutte-dutch-citizens-open-letter-pvv.Google Scholar
Henley, J (2017b) Le Pen Attacks Macron as She Steps Aside as Head of Front National. Guardian, 25 April, www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/24/macron-and-le-pen-to-face-off-for-french-presidency.Google Scholar
Huggler, J (2017) Who Are the Alternative for Germany, the Far-Right Party Set to Enter the German Parliament for the First Time? Telegraph, 25 September, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/24/Alternative for Germany-far-right-party-set-enter-german-parliament-first-time/.Google Scholar
Jewish Telegraphic Agency (2017) Marine Le Pen: Ban Halal and All Ritual Slaughter. 25 April, www.jta.org/2017/04/25/global/marine-le-pen-ban-halal-and-all-ritual-slaughter.Google Scholar
Local (2018) Merkel Contradicts Interior Minister, Saying ‘Islam Belongs to Germany’. 16 March, www.thelocal.de/20180316/islam-doesnt-belong-to-germany-says-interior-minister-horst-seehofer.Google Scholar
Kalmar, I (2018) Islamophobia in the East of the European Union: An Introduction. Patterns of Prejudice 52(5), 389–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mény, Y and Surel, Y (2002) Democracies and the Populist Challenge. New York: Palgrave.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moffitt, B and Tormey, S (2014) Rethinking Populism: Politics, Mediatisation and Political Style. Political Studies 62(2), 381–397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mouffe, C (2005a) On the Political. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Mouffe, C (2005b) The ‘End of Politics’ and the Challenge of Right-Wing Populism. In Panizza, F (ed.), Populism and the Mirror of Democracy. London: Verso, pp. 50–72.Google Scholar
Mudde, C (2004) The Populist Zeitgeist. Government and Opposition: An International Journal of Comparative Politics 39(4), 542–563.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mudde, C and Kaltwasser, CR (2013) Populism. In Freeden, M, Sargent, LT and Stears, M (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Political Ideologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 493–513.Google Scholar
Muller, JV (2016) What is Populism? Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newman, BI (1999) The Mass Marketing of Politics: Democracy in an Age of Manufactured Images. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Nossiter, A (2015) Marine Le Pen's Anti-Islam Message Gains Influence in Paris. New York Times, 17 November, www.nytimes.com/2015/11/18/world/europe/marine-le-pens-anti-islam-message-gains-influence-in-france.html.Google Scholar
NRC (2005) Den Haag laf tegen islamitisch extremism. 22 July, www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2005/07/22/den-haag-laf-tegen-islamitisch-extremisme-10580808-a530504.Google Scholar
Panizza, F (2005) Introduction: Populism and the Mirror of Democracy. In Panizza, F (ed.), Populism and the Mirror of Democracy. London: Verso, pp. 1–32.Google Scholar
Papadopoulos, Y (2013) Democracy in Crisis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parlamentaire Monitor (2013) Geert Wilders’ Speech in Bonn. 6 February, www.parlementairemonitor.nl/9353000/1/j9vvij5epmj1ey0/vj6xcz568lxd?ctx=vg09llkg6xvb&start_tab0=20.Google Scholar
Pew Research Center (2015) Religious Composition by Country, 2010–2015. 2 April 2015, www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/religious-projection-table/2010/percent/all.Google Scholar
Pew Research Center (2018) Being Christian in Western Europe. 29 May, www.pewforum.org/2018/05/29/being-christian-in-western-europe/.Google Scholar
Sayyid, S (2018) Islamophobia and the Europeanness of the Other Europe. Patterns of Prejudice 52(5), 420–435.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scally, D (2016) Germany's Populist Alternative for Germany Steps up Anti-Muslim Policies. Irish Times, 18 April, www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/germany-s-populist-Alternative for Germany-steps-up-anti-muslim-policies-1.2614789.Google Scholar
Sharkov, D (2015) Le Pen Calls for Surveillance of Mosques Following Gas Plant Attack. Newsweek, 26 June, www.newsweek.com/le-pen-calls-surveillance-mosques-following-attack-347443.Google Scholar
Shryock, AJ (2010) Introduction: Islam as an Object of Fear and Affection. In Shryock, AJ (ed.), Islamophobia/Islamophilia: Beyond the Politics of Enemy and Friend. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 1–29.Google Scholar
Shryock, AJ (2013) Attack of the Islamophobes: Religious War (and Peace) in Arab/Muslim Detroit. In Ernst, CW (ed.), Islamophobia in America: The Anatomy of Intolerance. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 145–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spruyt, B et al. (2016) Who Supports Populism and What Attracts People to It? Political Research Quarterly 69(2), 335–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Staff, T (2016) Le Pen Vows to Ban Kippas, All ‘Religious Symbols,’ in Public if Elected. Times of Israel, 16 October, www.timesofisrael.com/le-pen-vows-to-ban-kippas-all-religious-symbols-in-public-if-elected/.Google Scholar
Taggart, PA (1996) The New Populism and the New Politics New Protest Parties in Sweden in a Comparative Perspective. New York: Macmillan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Telegraph (2014) France's Le Pen: Ban Non-Pork Meals in Schools. 5 April, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/10746273/France-Le-Pen-ban-non-pork-meals-in-schools.Google Scholar
Telegraph (2017) Marine Le Pen is Elected French MP but Far-Right Front National Falls Flat with Just Eight Seats. 19 June, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/19/marine-le-pen-elected-french-mp-far-right-front-national-falls/.Google Scholar
Testa, A and Armstrong, G (2012) We Are Against Islam! SAGE Open 2, 1–14.Google Scholar
Traynor, I (2008) ‘I Don't Hate Muslims. I Hate Islam’, Says Holland's Rising Political Star. Guardian, 17 February, www.theguardian.com/world/2008/feb/17/netherlands.islam.Google Scholar
Viscusi, G (2017) Marine Le Pen Calls Multiculturalism a Weapon for Islamic Extremists. Sydney Morning Herald, 11 April, www.smh.com.au/world/marine-le-pen-calls-multiculturalism-a-weapon-for-islamic-extremists-20170411-gvi6vz.html.Google Scholar
Vossen, K (2011) Classifying Wilders: The Ideological Development of Geert Wilders and His Party for Freedom. Politics 31(3), 179–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wike, R (2017) 5 Charts Showing Where France's National Front Draws its Support. Pew Research Center, 21 April, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/21/5-charts-showing-where-frances-national-front-draws-its-support/.Google Scholar
Wike, R, Stokes, B and Simmons, K (2016) Europeans Fear Wave of Refugees Will Mean More Terrorism, Fewer Jobs. Pew Research Center, 11 July, www.pewglobal.org/2016/07/11/europeans-fear-wave-of-refugees-will-mean-more-terrorism-fewer-jobs/.Google Scholar
Wilders, G (2010) Speech House of Lords, London, Friday the 5th of March 2010. Geert Wilders weblog, 5 March, www.geertwilders.nl/77-in-the-press/in-the-press/1662-speech-house-of-lords-london-friday-the-5th-of-march-2010.Google Scholar
Williams, MH (2010) Can Leopards Change Their Spots? Between Xenophobia and Trans-Ethnic Populism among West European Far Right Parties. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 16(1), 111–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willsher, K (2012) Marine Le Pen Scores Stunning Result in French Presidential Election. Guardian, 22 April, www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/22/marine-le-pen-french-election.Google Scholar
Worcester, RM and Mortimore, R (2005) Political Triangulation: Measuring and Reporting the Key Aspects of Party and Leader Standing Before and During Elections. Journal of Political Marketing 4(2–3), 45–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Younes, A-E (2018) Islamophobia in Germany. In Bayraklı, E and Hafez, F (eds), European Islamophobia Report 2017. Istanbul: SETA, pp. 369–407.Google Scholar