The centre no longer holds : the Lega, Matteo Salvini and the remaking of Italian immigration politics

Abstract

This article asks how policy responses to migration in Italy have been shaped both by issue salience and by changing configurations on the centre right of Italian party politics both prior to and following the 2015 ‘migration crisis’. We show that, first, the increased politicisation of ‘irregular’ arrivals into Italy after 2015 changed migration from a relatively ‘quiet’ policy issue to one of ‘loud’ politics meaning that it was highly salient to the public. This salience significantly advantaged the Lega, who by this point had already transformed into an archetypal, European populist radical right party, but could now campaign successfully nationally and dominate the nominal ‘centre-right’ coalition. Second, the imposition when in government between June 2018 and September 2019 by the Lega of policies for migrants and asylum-seekers that focussed solely on prevention and removal and ended what remained of prior policy drift. We show that both trends conform to theoretical expectations regarding the relative power of interest groups and public opinion over public policy that are contingent on public issue salience, which we show to be the most plausible determinant of variation in migration policy, rather than public attitudes or party positions, during the period.