CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Gosteeva, Uliana |
|---|---|
| Title | WHAT DO NICHE PARTIES DO WHEN THE PUBLIC OPINION OF THEIR SUPPORTERS OPPOSES THE PARTY'S IDEOLOGIES? The Case of Right-Wing Parties in the European Parliament and their Response to Refuge and Migration Policies |
| Summary | This thesis explores the dynamics between party policies and public opinion, specifically focusing on how parties adapt their stances on critical issues. At the core of my work, there is empirical data from biannual Eurobarometer polls and voting records from the European Parliament to trace the correlation between the public opinion of right-leaning Europeans and the voting behaviours of right-wing parties, particularly regarding immigration and asylum policies from 2015 to 2022. The analysis reveals that in 2022, these parties' votes aligned with a liberalising public sentiment of right-leaning respondents towards issues of asylum and migration and voted for hosting Ukrainian refugees after the outbreak of the war. I conclude with a discussion on the unclear causality between the liberalised public opinion of right-wing supporters and party behaviour in the context of Ukrainian refugees in 2022. It notes a marked difference in attitudes towards Ukrainian refugees compared to others, suggesting a strong correlation but also highlighting the need for further research due to limited data. The study calls for a more comprehensive analysis to better understand radical right-wing parties' paradoxical behaviour and establish a more evident trend in the relationship between public opinion and party policy on immigration issues. |
| Supervisor | Angelova, Mariyana |
| Department | Undergraduate Studies BA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/gosteeva_uliana.pdf |
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