Description
The rise of populism in the UK has been associated with the social and political mainstreaming of the radical right from 2000 onwards and escalated by a series of crises, such as the post-9/11 terrorism crisis, the 2008 economic crisis, and the 2015 refugee crisis. Immigration and the so-called ‘influx’ of asylum seekers into the UK since 2105 has been highlighted as a key factor for the mainstreaming of PRR politics. However, there are no substantial studies investigating how the network of PRR actors are shaping and changing migrant rights in line with their anti-immigrant and immigration rhetoric and policies. This study identifies direct and indirect strategies and tactics utilised by PRR actors to contest and change definitions and recognition of refugees and asylum seekers and their human rights over the past two decades. I conduct qualitative analysis of primary interviews with PRR actors and political and legal documents to uncover the mechanisms employed by a network of actors, and the political and judicial platforms used, to shape and change norms on refugee and asylum seeker rights in the UK. This paper situates PRR actors within the International Relations theoretical framework of norm dynamics and contestation, categorising PRR actors as progressive norm entrepreneurs, regressive norm entrepreneurs, and norm antipreneurs. The results of this study will demonstrate the ongoing contestation of the definitions and recognition of asylum seeker and refugee rights due to PRR political and legal strategies and tactics. The study will determine whether PRR activism is conducive to a human rights-based approach or if it has led to human rights backsliding of the rights of asylum seekers and refugees over the past 20 years.
