Right-Wing Populist Migration Diplomacy: Domestic Legitimation and EU Bargaining in Türkiye and Hungary

This research investigates how right-wing populist governments instrumentalize migration diplomacy during electoral cycles to consolidate domestic authority and reshape their international positioning vis-à-vis the European Union (EU). Focusing on Türkiye and Hungary—two paradigmatic cases that differ in EU membership status but converge on the use of migration as a political tool—it examines how populist incumbents deploy migration-related narratives and strategies for both internal legitimation and bargaining with the EU. Employing a Most Different Systems Design (MDSD), the study traces how migration diplomacy manifests through symbolic co-optation, rule-bending, and norm reshaping, particularly during critical elections between 2014 and 2023. It argues that electoral moments act as key moments, intensifying the political salience of migration and revealing divergent strategic logics. Türkiye’s transactional and cooperative diplomacy contrasts with Hungary’s symbolic and coercive stance. By analyzing these dynamics, the study contributes to scholarship on migration diplomacy, EU–state relations, and the role of populism in foreign policy, offering a novel framework to understand the domestic–international interplay in populism.