Ambivalent Pluralism and Populist Discourses on Refugees in Ecuador and Turkey

• In Event: Nativism and Nationalism

Abstract

While the right-wing populist governments of the USA and Europe built their appeal in large part on exclusionary and securitizing messages toward migrants from the Global South, populism has an ambivalent relationship with anti-immigrant discourse. This paper compares two cases in the Global South which were among the largest recipients of refugees in their regions —Ecuador under President Rafael Correa and Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Both cases involved dual migration flows as sending and receiving states, and both regimes demonstrated democratic backsliding. Despite employing a populist governing style and appeals to nationalism, both presidents made a welcoming and pluralistic discourse toward refugees a centerpiece of their political agenda. Through comparisons of their discourses, their international political goals, and their domestic political incentives, this paper highlights the counterintuitive ways in which receptive political rhetoric and policy toward refugees may be facilitated by the very populist regimes and governing style that elsewhere result in migrant scapegoating and restrictionist policies. By comparing two Global South cases where populist governments’ goals have been enabled through increased migration receptivity, the paper complicates and enriches the understanding of the relationship between populism and migration.

Authors

• Jeffrey Daniel Pugh, University of Massachusetts-Boston

• Uluc Karakas, University of Massachusetts Boston