Immigration into the mainstream: Conflicting ideological streams, strategic reasoning and party competition

Although immigration is one of the key issues of contestation in Western Europe, the extent to which it plays a part in electoral competition in individual states varies considerably, especially when it comes to the use made of the issue by parties generally considered mainstream rather than extreme. The Special Issue addresses some of the explanations for this variation and why the immigration ‘issue’ is rarely a top election priority even though the political mainstream has continuously been prompted to make it one. Particular attention is paid to the conflicting ideological ‘pulls’ that may arise once immigration is factored in and how parties pursue ownership strategies to bypass such tensions.