Political elites and immigration in Italy: party competition, polarization and new cleavages

The massive wave of migration that has affected Europe since 2015 has placed European and national institutions under considerable strain, with significant implications for both EU integration and for politics within the member states. Italy, one of the first points of access for immigrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea, provides the basis for a case study showing how and why the immigration crisis has affected elitesʼ and partiesʼ positions on the issue. Our findings show that, as far as instrumental/economic positions are concerned, party competition and polarization significantly changed during the acute phase of the refugee crisis. On the other hand, left-right ideology continues to explain more of the variation in elitesʼ and partiesʼ positioning on the immigration issue than does the transnational cleavage.