ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to elucidate some of the backgrounds of the Freedom Party and Northern League discourses on immigration. It deals with the foundations of the anti-foreigner campaign discourses, and their function in the construction of in-group and out-group identities. The chapter examines the traces of typical ideological positions of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPO) and Lega Nord in their discourse on identity and migration. The major responsibilities for uncontrolled immigration are attributed to the Austrian Socialist Party and to the EU-enlargement program to Eastern Europe. In Italy, the electoral success of the Lega has been attributed to the parties' anti-establishment message in a climate of general voter distrust and disaffection with the old party system. In Austria, the FPO has represented itself as the alternative to political corruption and the spoils system of the Socialist and People's Party that dominated Austrian political and socioeconomic life for decades.
