The “Thirteenth Immigrant”? : Migration and Populism in the 2018 Czech Presidential Election
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| Year of publication | 2021 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
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| Description | In 2015, the European Union mandated that the Czech Republic accept 2,691 refugees relocated from Italy and Greece; by mid-2017, it had hosted just 12, stoking fears about the potential “thirteenth immigrant.” Although the Czech Republic has few migrants, a compelling analytical puzzle presents itself: why is this country so virulently anti-immigrant? One possibility is that public opinion is influenced by the populist rhetoric of politicians. To explore the populism-migration nexus in the Czech Republic, this study asks: how are the processes of inclusion and exclusion in the Czech civil sphere represented in presidential discourse? It focuses in particular on the two candidates in the presidential runoff election held on January 26-27, 2018 – President Miloš Zeman and challenger Jiří Drahoš. In addition, I marshal public statements made by President Zeman while in office since 2013. Exploring this meso-level of cultural representations made by the president and a presidential contender is fitting in the Czech case, since the public tends to hold the office of president in very high esteem, even if its power is mainly symbolic. |
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