This research gap hinders from understanding how the mainstreaming of the radical right is affecting the political inclusion of the very groups that anti-immigrant discourse concerns and what kind of challenges this poses to societal inclusion and whether this can produce new inequalities among different migrant groups. Does the increasing salience of far right tropes push voters of migrant origin towards the incorporation of liberal democratic values or rather, amplify the influence of the authoritarian, nativist and/or populist frames dominant in their countries of origin? And will it witness political mobilization among this group to protect their interest or rather, alienates them even further?
The POLINERA project aims to understand how the mainstreaming of the populist radical right affects the political inclusion of immigrant and immigrant origin populations, with particular focus on their political behavior and socio-political attitudes. By conducting ethnographic research in immigrant dominated neighborhoods in Copenhagen, Malmö and Tallinn, the project will document the manifestations of the (de)mobilizing consequences the success of the far right has, and also how different groups of residents react to pro- or anti-populist radical right mobilization. By analyzing post-election survey and registry data in Norway and Estonia, the project allows to make broader scientific generalizations on the effects on the success of the populist radical right on the turnout and attitudes of immigrant or immigrant-origin groups.
This research is particularly important in the Nordic-Baltic region, which is home to a notably high share of foreign-born residents and ranks at the top of global liberal democracy ratings, but has also witnessed a notable rise and mainstreaming of the populist radical right.