TY - JOUR

T1 - Islamophobic Right-Wing Populism? Empirical Insights about Citizens' Susceptibility to Islamophobia and Its Impact on Right-Wing Populists' Electoral Success

T2 - Eastern Europe in a Comparative Perspective

AU - Öztürk, Cemal

AU - Pickel, Gert

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Religion and Society in Central and Eastern Europe.

PY - 2019/12/1

Y1 - 2019/12/1

N2 - Understanding the electoral success of right-wing populist parties has sparked the interest of many scholars. One factor receiving less attention in these debates is the role of religious affiliation as a cultural marker of allegedly dangerous out-groups. Right-wing populists often portray themselves as defenders of a Christian Occident that is allegedly under threat by an invasion of Muslims. We argue, in accordance with the culturalbacklash thesis, that the mobilization of right-wing populists would not have been possible without the widespread perception of Islam and Muslims as a threat. To test this assumption, we analyzed data from the European Social Survey (2014). Our results show that support for a ban against Muslims increases the likelihood of voting for right-wing populist parties, and the percentage of Muslims in the total population has no moderating effect. The individual linkage between anti-Muslim prejudices and the support of right-wing populist parties is a pan-European phenomenon. Interestingly, right-wing populists profit from anti-Muslim prejudices in places where few Muslims live. Thus, the absence of Muslims seems to favor a social climate in which anti-Muslim sentiments prevail. "Islamophobia without Muslims" offers right-wing populists a political window of opportunity to join government coalitions or even to win elections.

AB - Understanding the electoral success of right-wing populist parties has sparked the interest of many scholars. One factor receiving less attention in these debates is the role of religious affiliation as a cultural marker of allegedly dangerous out-groups. Right-wing populists often portray themselves as defenders of a Christian Occident that is allegedly under threat by an invasion of Muslims. We argue, in accordance with the culturalbacklash thesis, that the mobilization of right-wing populists would not have been possible without the widespread perception of Islam and Muslims as a threat. To test this assumption, we analyzed data from the European Social Survey (2014). Our results show that support for a ban against Muslims increases the likelihood of voting for right-wing populist parties, and the percentage of Muslims in the total population has no moderating effect. The individual linkage between anti-Muslim prejudices and the support of right-wing populist parties is a pan-European phenomenon. Interestingly, right-wing populists profit from anti-Muslim prejudices in places where few Muslims live. Thus, the absence of Muslims seems to favor a social climate in which anti-Muslim sentiments prevail. "Islamophobia without Muslims" offers right-wing populists a political window of opportunity to join government coalitions or even to win elections.

KW - Eastern Europe

KW - Islam

KW - Islamophobia

KW - Prejudice

KW - Survey

KW - Politics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85142542977&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.20413/rascee.2019.12.1.39-62

DO - 10.20413/rascee.2019.12.1.39-62

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85142542977

VL - 12

SP - 39

EP - 62

JO - Religion and Society in Central and Eastern Europe

JF - Religion and Society in Central and Eastern Europe

SN - 1553-9962

IS - 1

ER -