How non-radical right parties strategically use nativist language: Evidence from an automated content analysis of Austrian, German, and Swiss election manifestos

Radical right parties and their nativist ideas have gained considerable momentum, compelling non-radical parties to engage with this demand and with the nativist Zeitgeist. Yet, aside from general trends such as tougher stances on migration, we know little about the strategic choices of parties when balancing their commitment to core policy goals and the need to be timely, that is, to respond changing environments. Theoretically, parties may either adapt their ideological core to signal commitment or merely attribute nativist ideas to secondary issue areas to signal general responsiveness. Drawing on Austrian, German, and Swiss manifestos for over two decades and establishing a novel dictionary to assess parties' use of nativism, we find that while previous studies showing right-wing parties to compete with RRs using nativism in the same domains are correct, the strategic choices around this competition are more complex. How much commitment to nativist ideas parties show depends on whether RR parties use the same domains to construct their nativist claims. For research on party competition, this means that more attention should be paid to how rather than if parties engage with their rivals.

Automated summary

The rise of radical right parties and nativist ideas have compelled non-radical parties to respond. This study finds that parties often balance their commitment to core policy goals with the need to adapt to changing environments when dealing with nativist demands.