ABSTRACT
This chapter develops the research methods employed to measure the ERP impact on immigration politics and policy in the UK, France and Italy. It also examines the proposed hypotheses to understand the levels of ERP impact on the selected analytical dimensions. First, the overall research question about the BNP, FN and LN impact on immigration politics and policy in the UK, France and Italy during the 2000s is specified and disaggregated according to the distinct analytical dimensions. Second, the chapter explores the second aim of this book that seeks to understand the development of these political processes through the cross-national comparison of the relationships found between the levels of ERPs' impact on the distinct dimensions and a proposed set of factors extracted from ERP literature and immigration studies. The linkage between the selected factors and political literature, as well as their influence on each other, is also explored in further depth. Third, the selected comparative research design and the mixed research methodology employed to attain the proposed objectives are developed in this chapter. Last, a definition of ERP is presented at the end of this chapter alongside a typology to explore the variety of members of this party family.
