Comparing Right-Wing Populist Parties’ Stance towards the Global Management of International Migration: Insights from Turkey and Hungary

Abstract

How do ruling, right-wing populist parties approach the global management of international migration? This paper addresses this question by analyzing Hungary’s Fidesz and Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the context of the 2015 Syrian refugee crisis. It studies these parties’ discourses regarding the liberal international order (LIO) and the EU, and particularly, the latter’s proposed handling of the crisis. This fills a gap in the literature because ruling right-wing populist parties in middle-power states like Hungary and Turkey are seldom compared and the presence or absence of EU membership may make a difference in their arguments. The paper argues: (1) Fidesz and AKP selectively challenge the LIO and the EU within a populist foreign policy framework pitting “liberal, corrupt, global, EU elites” against the people (Christians for Fidesz, Syrian Muslim refugees for the AKP), (2) They differ because: (a) Fidesz’ challenges heavily focus on the EU while the AKP’s discourse extends to the global system and the UN, (b) Fidesz’ EU contestation revolves around the need to protect “Hungarian sovereignty” and “Christian European culture” from “Brussels elites” while AKP’s rhetoric primarily reflects expectations of satisfactory “transactionalism” from the EU.