Crime, Unemployment, and Xenophobia? An Ecological Analysis of Right-Wing Election Results in Hamburg, 1986?2005

Ralph Rotte () and Martin Steininger
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Ralph Rotte: RWTH Aachen University

No 3779, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper investigates the consequences of immigration, crime and socio-economic depriviation for the performance of right-wing extremist and populist parties in the German city state of Hamburg between 1986 and 2005. The ecological determinants of voting for right-wing parties on the district level are compared to those for mainstream and other protest parties. Parallels and differences in spatial characteristics between right-wing extremist and populist parties' performance are identified. Our empirical results tend to confirm the general contextual sociological theory of right-wing radicalization by general social deprivation and immigration. Nevertheless they indicate that one has to be very cautious when interpreting the unemployment/crime - right-winger nexus. Moreover, crime does not seem to have a strong significant effect on right-wing populist parties' election successes despite its importance for their programmes and campaigns.

Keywords: elections; political extremism; labor market policy; welfare policy; immigration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D60 D72 I28 J60 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2008-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mig, nep-pol and nep-soc
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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