Parties of the Left and the Burqa Ban: An Electoral Competition Model

The burqa ban, debated and legislated across a number of European countries, is emblematic of the heightened nationalisms and political polarization associated with the interaction of increasing immigration and the economic crisis in Europe. How have political parties of the left, political institutions that traditionally opposed discriminatory and intolerant behaviors towards minorities or immigrants, structured the controversy and addressed this issue?  What explains their diverse policy positions?

 In particular, parties of the left across Western Europe have varied regarding their position on the burqa issue.  For instance, despite high popular support for the burqa ban in the Netherlands (83%) even among Labour Party supporters (73%), the Dutch Labour Party opposed legislation banning the burqa.  In France, on the other hand, the Socialist Party abstained from the burqa ban vote citing opposition not to the law per se, but to its broad application.

 This paper seeks to explain variation in the response to the burqa ban of parties of the left (Social Democratic, Labour, and Socialist parties) across Western European countries including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland. Based on Wolinetz’s party classification (2002) and an electoral competition model, we argue that the distinct policy responses of parties of the left are determined partly by each party’s organizational structure in interaction with the electoral opposition each party encountered.  In addition, we control for institutional and cultural factors that may account for the observed cross national variation in policy response.