How the arrival of Syrian refugees in Europe has influenced the rise of far-right rhetoric in Europe

What is it about?

the Syrian refugee influx is directly and causally related to the increase in far-right rhetoric in the election manifesto of political parties from the right to the left. In other words, the influx of Syrian refugees into the European countries, both major refugees receiving countries such as Germany, Sweden and Austria and all other countries that received relatively smaller number of refugees, has caused far right parties to adopt anti-refugee policies. This allows one to ask a necessary counterfactual question: would the far-right be able to gain such unprecedented success if there were no Syrian refugees in the first place?

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Photo by Maria Teneva on Unsplash

Photo by Maria Teneva on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The new research findings are important for another crucial reason. Using cutting edge statistical methodology (such as propensity score matching and quasi experimental methods) our findings disprove the quintessential orientalist claim that black and brown people are raping the White Women and stealing the jobs of the White Men. To test whether there is any scientific basis of the far-right rhetoric that refugees increase crime, statistical models show that there was no significant increase in crime rates, neither among the major refugee countries nor the small refugee hosting countries. Thus, this peer reviewed research findings show that there is no scientific basis of the anti-refugee claims instrumentalized by the far-right rhetoric.