Responding to the Migration Issue

Radical right-wing parties have successfully come to distinguish themselves from other parties on the political dimension by advocating a restrictive position towards migration. This study has taken shape in the context of the discussion surrounding the increased support for radical right-wing parties with specific focus on how mainstream parties strategically respond to their presence and success in issues of migration. On the basis of the examination of two mainstream centre-left parties in Sweden and the UK, the study examines how these parties position themselves towards the migration issue when radical right-wing parties experience an increase in voter share. By applying Meguid¿s modified spatial model to the manifestos, the findings of this research imply that the strategic positions taken by the mainstream left appear to be conditioned by how much share of the vote the radical right attain.