How do radical right populist parties influence resurging debates over the stripping of citizenship?
| Date | 01 March 2020 |
| Published date | 01 March 2020 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0192512118803733 |
| Author | Benjamin Biard |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512118803733
International Political Science Review
2020, Vol. 41(2) 224 –237
© The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/0192512118803733
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How do radical right populist
parties influence resurging debates
over the stripping of citizenship?
Benjamin Biard
Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium
Abstract
Debates over the stripping of citizenship have been rekindled in many countries in recent years. Radical right
populist parties (RRPPs) are often perceived to have played a significant role in these resurging debates, even
when they do not possess executive power and are often marginalised by mainstream parties. Thus, RRPPs’
real influence on policy-making remains unclear and the way RRPPs intervene in the policy-making process
to influence it has not yet been satisfactorily determined. By focusing on policy-making, this study asks the
question: how do RRPPs influence resurging debates over the stripping of citizenship? Using process-tracing
and evidence from archives, memoirs and 67 interviews with policy-makers and party leaders, this research
aims to determine if and how RRPPs intervene in the process in France and Belgium. The results indicate
that RRPPs matter but that their influence is strongly curtailed. Their influence is not exercised directly and
through institutional arenas, but indirectly: based on a provocative style, in a specific context, and through
public opinion and the media.
Keywords
Populism, populist political parties, policy-making, policy influence, stripping of citizenship
Debates on the stripping of citizenship have been rekindled in many countries following terrorist
attacks which have often been perpetrated by Islamist terrorists who hold citizenship in the state
that they have attacked, particularly since January 2015. Proposals for the stripping of citizenship
or denial of naturalization have come from parties of the left and the right in order to tackle the
issue in this context. Yet, both parties of the left and the right are also critical of the measures:
debates are not only highly sensitive over the stripping of citizenship itself but also in relation to
its application or scope. While some advocate that the measure should be embraced to prevent
criminality and terrorism, others argue that it is more of an identity issue than a security issue and
that it would contribute to the development of a two-tier justice system (Geisser, 2015). Thereby,
the measures are not only contested at the level of government but also among citizens.
Corresponding author:
Benjamin Biard, Catholic University of Louvain (UCL), Chaussée de Binche, 151, Mons, 7000, Belgium.
Email: benjamin.biard@uclouvain.be
803733IPS0010.1177/0192512118803733International Political Science ReviewBiard
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