The threatening migrants : – a discourse analysis of the AfD and Fidesz’s construction of migrants

This study explores how the two populist radical right parties, Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Fidesz, discursively construct migrants, either as security threats or through crisis narratives. While the securitization of migrants by such political parties has been explored to a reasonable extent in existing literature, comparative analyses that highlight the differences between these parties remain limited. The study also contributes to the field by examining how two parties operating in different national and institutional contexts navigate the construction of the issue of migrants. Using Carol Bacchi’s “What’s the problem represented to be?” approach as an analytical tool for discourse analysis, the study investigates AfD’s and Fidesz’s most recent discursive representations of migrants. The findings reveal general themes of similarity in their representation of migrants as threats or a crisis, but also a nuanced picture of their differences. It appears that each party blames a different kind of elite for the threat migrants are seen to constitute to the nation, and they describe the threat either as an internal or external problem. AfD also seems to employ more explicit anti-Muslim rhetoric, while Fidesz emphasizes traditional identity and cultural values. The study concludes that both parties present a one-sided narrative in which the migrants’ voices are absent, contributing to a limited and politicized discourse. Further research should focus on illustrating the migrants’ perspectives and how these narratives are received by the public.