Vol. 21 · No. 2 · Issue 67 · Summer 2003

Roger Karapin

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Abstract

Many writers have argued that anti-immigration politics in Germany and other West European countries have been driven by radical-right parties or the electoral maneuvering of national politicians from established parties. Others have argued that waves of violence against immigrants and ethnic minorities have spurred anti-immigration politics, or that racist ideologies and socioeconomic inequality are the root causes. By comparison, authors have paid relatively little attention to anti-immigration mobilization at subnational levels, including the public positions taken by subnational politicians and the activities of movement groups, or "challengers." Nonetheless, research has shown that subnational politicians are often important in pressing national campaigns for immigration controls. Moreover, as I have argued elsewhere, anti-immigration politicians in Britain and Germany have responded in large part to local challengers, who were aided by political elites at local and regional levels.