Against Immigration/Against Europe: New Extreme Voices Framing Old Arguments.

PLEASE DO NOT CITE WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR: The aim of this paper is to explain the roots and successes of contemporary anti- Europeanism in Great Britain. The contention is that the politics Euroskepticism provides a legitimate framework for otherwise explicitly racist and xenophobic attitudes. The past couple of years have seen a changing of the guard amongst extreme parties on the issue of immigration, from the racist politics of the British National Party (BNP) to the anti-EU xenophobia of the UK Independence Party (UKIP). The paper proceeds in explaining this change by way of three parts; part one examines the historical context of modern anti- Europeanism, looking specifically at institutions, traditional intergovernmentalism towards Europe and cultural protectionism as important historical themes. Given this context, part two seeks to explain what factors impel xenophobic voting. It tests the theory that economic and societal competition produce opposition to immigration (Money 1999) using cross-county descriptive statistics. Concluding that these factors are conditions, not explanations, part three asserts politics of perceived competition as bearing explanatory weight. Mechanism of politicization include the institutional characteristics of opposition in parliamentary democracy, newspapers and readership, and most importantly, campaigning. The paper conclude that anti-Europeanism heard on the continent is a projection of anti-immigrant voices politicized in Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]