Protest Against the Reception of Asylum Seekers in Austria

Abstract

This chapter investigates anti-migration mobilization, in particular the emergence and success of restrictionist protest activities against the establishment of accommodation centers for asylum seekers in Austria. Based on media reports, official documents, municipal gazettes and protest material, we analyze 113 protest cases in the context of rising asylum applications with the tools of social movement research, focusing on actors, repertoires, frames and outcomes of collective action. Asylum-center protest is characterized as local, small-scale, institutionalized and successful in terms of achieving its main implementation claims. Ideological and material opposition towards ethnic and cultural diversity is expressed in frames of belonging, distribution and democracy. Institutional and discursive opportunities explain the emergence of protest activities, whereas their high rate of success is to be understood by endogenous protest characteristics, in particular the specific protest network, which is dominated by institutional protagonists equipped with powerful political resources.