The Effect of Anti-Immigrant Discourses on Voter Behaviors in the Context of Critical Discourse Analysis: The Case of the Italian League Party

Year 2023, Volume: 19 Issue: 46, 657 - 678, 30.12.2023

Salih Turgay

https://doi.org/10.17752/guvenlikstrtj.1338324

Abstract

After the end of the Cold War, the increasing migration movements have deeply affected Italy, which is on the most active migration route between Africa and Europe. Intensive migration movements towards Italy, which is both a transit and a destination country, have been more politicized day by day and become one of the most controversial issues on the political plane. While regionalism was at the center of the political discourse of the farright League Party, which has managed to become an important actor in the Italian political system since its establishment until the 2000s, anti-immigration began to characterize the party’s general political line and ideological stance as of the 2000s. This study discusses the metaphors through which the League Party carries out its anti-immigration discourses and the reflections of these discourses on the Italian general elections and European Parliament elections. It tries to make sense of the metaphors that the actors of the League Party brought to the forefront and the relationship between their communication strategies, their election posters, and these metaphors by using the critical discourse analysis method. In this sense, the main purpose of the study is to reveal whether the anti-immigrant discourse of the actors of the League Party is a variable that affects the party’s votes. According to the findings of the study, anti-migration discourse reflects positively on the election results in times when immigrants occupy the public agenda due to factors such as crime rates and cultural differences or when mass migration movements increase the sensitivity level of society. However, the study also shows that anti-immigration rhetoric does not perform the expected effect on voters’ behaviour in times when economic and social problems diverge.

Keywords

Italy, Immigration, Invasion, League Party, Irregular Immigration

Eleştirel Söylem Analizi Bağlamında Göçmen Karşıtı Söylemlerin Seçmen Davranışları Üzerindeki Etkisi: İtalya Lig Partisi Örneği

Abstract

Soğuk Savaş’ın sona ermesinin ardından her geçen gün artış gösteren göç hareketleri Afrika ile Avrupa kıtaları arasındaki en aktif göç rotası üzerinde yer alan İtalya’yı derinden etkilemiştir. Gerek transit gerekse hedef ülke konumunda olan İtalya’ya yönelik yoğun göç hareketleri her gecen gün daha da siyasallaştırılmış ve politik düzlemin en tartışmalı konuları arasına girmiştir. Öte yandan kurulduğu yıldan itibaren İtalya siyasal sisteminde önemli bir aktör olmayı başaran aşırı sağcı Lig Partisi’nin politik söyleminin merkezinde 2000’li yıllara kadar bölgeselcilik bulunmaktayken, 2000’li yıllar itibariyle göç karşıtlığı, partinin genel siyasi çizgisini ve ideolojik duruşunu karakterize etmeye başlamıştır. Çalışmada Lig Partisi’nin göç karşıtı söylemlerini hangi metaforlar üzerinden gerçekleştirdiği ve bu söylemlerin İtalya genel seçimleri ile Avrupa Parlamentosu seçimlerine yansımaları ele alınmıştır. Lig Partisi aktörlerinin hangi metaforları ön plana çıkardıkları, iletişim stratejileri ve seçim afişlerinin bu metaforlar ile ilişkisi eleştirel söylem analizi yöntemi ile incelenmeye çalışılmıştır. Bu anlamda çalışmanın temel amacı, Lig Partisi aktörlerinin göçmen karşıtı söylemlerinin partinin oy oranlarını etkileyen bir değişken olup olmadığını ortaya koymaktır. Elde edilen verilere göre, suç oranları ve kültürel farklılıklar gibi sebeplerle veya kitlesel göç hareketlerinin toplumun duyarlılık düzeyini artırdığı dönemlerde, göç karşıtı söylemin seçim sonuçlarına olumlu bir şekilde yansıdığı gözlemlenmektedir. Ancak ekonomik ve toplumsal sorunların farklılaştığı dönemlerde göç karşıtı söylem, seçmen davranışları üzerinde beklenen etkiyi göstermemektedir.

Keywords

İtalya, Göç, İstila, Lig Partisi, Düzensiz Göç

References

• AGGER Ben (1991). “Critical Theory, Postructuralism, Postmodernism, Their Sociological Relevance”, Annual Review of Sociology, 17, 105-131.
• ALBERTAZZI Daniele ve MCDONNELL Duncan (2015). Populists in Power, Routledge, London & New York.
• ARISOY Alper (2010). “İtalya’da Kuzey Bölgeselciliği ve Kuzey Ligi Hareketi”, Ege Stratejik Araştırmalar Dergisi, 1:1, 26-44.
• BEAMAN Jean (2015). “Boundaries of Frenchness: Cultural citizenship and France's Middle‐class North African Second‐generation”, Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 22:1, 36-52.
• BONIFAZI Corrado (2000). “Europea Migration Policy: Questions from Italy”, Russell King, Gabriella Lazaridis ve Charlambos Tsardanidis (ed.), Eldorado or Fortress? Migration in Southern Europe, St. Martin’s Press.
• CENTO BULL Anna ve GILBERT Mark (2001). Lega Nord and the Northern Question in Italian Politics, Palgrave Macmillan, Gordonsville.
• CERVI Laura, TEJEDOR Santiago ve DORNELLES Mariana Alencar (2020). “When Populists Govern the Country: Strategies of Legitimization of Anti-Immigration Policies in Salvini’s Italy” Sustainability, 12:23, 102-125.
• DENNISON James ve GEDDES Andrew (2021). “The Centre no Longer Holds: The Lega, Matteo Salvini and The Remaking of Italian Immigration Politics”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 48, 1-20.
• FAIRCLOUGH Norman ve WODAK Ruth (1997). “Critical Discourse Analysis.” Tuen Van Dijk (ed.), Discourse studies: A Multidisciplinary Introduction, Sage Publication, London, 2.
• FALCI Paula Guzzo (2011). Securitization of Migration Policies in Italy, Yayımlanmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Universtaad Vien, Vienna.
• FASANI Francesco (2009). “Country Report: Italy -Undocumented Migration: Counting the Uncountable. Data and Trends across Europe”, The European Commission, Academic Search Premier.
• GÜR Tahir (2013) “Post- Modern Bir Araştırma Yöntemi Olarak Söylem Çözümlemesi’’, Journal of World of Turks, 5:1, 403-417.
• MCDONNELL Duncan ve VAMPA Davide (2016). “The Italian Lega Nord”, Reinhard Heinisch ve Oscar Mazzoleni (ed.), Understanding Populist Party Organisation: The Radical Right in Western Europe, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 105-126.
• MERLINO Massimo (2009). “The Italian (In)Security Package Security vs. Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights in the EU”, Changing Landscape of European Liberty and Security, Research Paper No. 14.
• O’BRIEN Gerald (2013). “Indigestible Food, Conquering Hordes, and Waste Materials: Metaphors of Immigrants And The Early Immigration Restriction Debate in The United States.” Metaphor and Symbol, 1:1, 33-47.
• ÖZER Murat, BEZIRGAN Ömer E. ve VITALIYEV İslam (2014). “Göçmenlerin ve Sığınmacıların Yaşadığı Tekne Faciaları Hakkında Mülteci Ölümleri Raporu 2014”, IMKANDER.
• PADOVANI Cinzia (2018). “Lega Nord and Anti-Immigrationism: The Importance of Hegemony Critique for Social Media Analysis and Protest”, International Journal of Communication, 12, 1-27.
• PAOLETTI Emanuela (2014). “The Arab Spring and the Italian Response to Migration in 2011: Beyond the Emergency”, CMS, 2:2, 127-149.
• REYNERI Emilio (2003). “The Challenges of Immigration and Integration in the European Union and Australia,” National Europe Centre Paper, University of Sydney, 68.
• RYDGREN Jens (2008). “Immigration Sceptics, Xenophobes or Racists? Radical Right-wing Voting in Six West European Countries”, European Journal of Political Research 47:6, 737-765.
• SÖZEN Edibe (1999). Söylem, İstanbul, Paradigma Yayınları.
• STEVENSON Nick (2001). Culture and Citizenship, Sage Publications, London.
• TARCHI Marco (2015). L’Italia populista: Dal qualunquismo a Beppe Grillo (Populist Italy: From qualunquismo to Beppe Grillo), Bologna, Il Mulino.
• VOLPP Leti (2007). “The culture of Citizenship”, Theoretical Inquiries in Law, 8:2. 571-602.
• WODAK Ruth (2015). The Politics of Fear, Sage Publications, London.
• WODAK Ruth (2006). “Mediation Between Discourse and Society: Assessing Cognitive Approaches in CDA”, Discourse Studies, 8:1, 179-190.
• WODAK Ruth ve MEYER Michael (2009). “Critical Discourse Analysis: History, Agenda, Theory, and Methodology”, Ruth Wodak ve Michael Meyer (ed.), Methods for Critical Discourse Analysis, Sage Publisher, 1-33.
• WOODS Dwayne (2014). “The Many Faces Of Populism: Diverse But Not Disparate Research”, Political Sociology, 6, 1-25.
• BAROUD Ramzy and RUBEO Romana , “What is Behind the Aquarius Refugee Ship Crisis?”, 17 Haziran 2018, https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2018/6/17/what-is-behind-the-aquarius-refugee-ship-crisis, erişim 01.08.2023.
• Bridge Initiative Team, “The League (Lega, Lega Nord, The Northern League),” Factsheet, 14 Eylül 2020, https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/factsheet-the-league-lega-lega-nord-the-northern-league/erişim 29.07.2023.
• DOCKERY Wesley (2018). “What is The Lega Nord And Their Policy Towards Migrants?, Infomigrants, https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/10109/what-is-the-lega-nord-and-their-policy-towards-migrants erişim 29.07.2023.
• ELYYATT Holly. “The Far-Right is Expected to Win Italy’s Election in Rome’s Biggest Political Shift for Decades”, 23 Eylül 2022, https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/22/italian-election-italy-turns-to-the-right-with-fdis-georgia-meloni.html, erişim 01.08.2023.
• EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/countries.html, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/elections2014-results/en/country-introduction-2014.html, erişim 20.07.2023.
• EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/election-results-2019/en erişim, 30.07.2023.
• EUROSTAAT, https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/submitViewTableAction.do, erişim 21.07.2023
• FRONTEX”, https://www.frontex.europa.eu/what-we-do/monitoring-and-risk-analysis/migratory-routes/central-mediterranean-route/, erişim 01.07.2023.
• PARTIES AND ELECTIONS IN EUROPA, http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/italy.html, erişim 08.01.2023.
• THE GUARDIAN, “Umberto Bossi Resigns as Leader of Northern League Amid Funding Scandal”, 6 Nisan 2012, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/05/umberto-bossi-resigns-northern-league, erişim 22.11.2023.