Populist radical right and immigrants in times of crisis : the case of the Czech Republic and Slovakia

The last couple of years witnessed an advancement of populist radical right groups, which brought about radicalization of public attitudes and political discourses in many European countries. While the populist radical right has in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) traditionally focused their antagonism towards national minorities, with the eruptions of economic and migrant crises, the radical groups in the East have seemed to profoundly intensify their opposition towards immigration on the basis of populist frames on the one hand and (ethno-)nationalist on the other. Building upon a frame analysis of populist radical right parties, this chapter investigates existence and “type” of populist radical right discourses on immigrants and “the people” in the Czech Republic and Slovakia during more than two decades (1993-2014, for a total of more than 6800 frames collected). It examines (1) how economic and refugee crises has impacted (if any) on the symbolic mobilization of the populist radical right and (2) which forms this opposition to the democratic and pluralistic system has taken. We illustrate how the economic and refugee crises deepened existing and opened up new opportunities for the populist radical right to mobilize support on hostility aimed at immigrants and foreigners.