Background 

I became interested in anti-immigrant rhetoric in Italian politics during the Fall 2024 semester. I had recently decided to minor in Italian and began following news from Italy to learn more about its culture. In October, I learned about a recent deal that Italy had struck with Albania. The deal would allow Italy to send asylum seekers rescued from the Mediterranean to Albanian detention centers in large quantities: up to 36,000 refugees per year. The agreement is a cornerstone of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s administration, and she has fought hard to implement it even as it faces scrutiny from judges and human rights organizations. I noticed parallels between the rhetoric used by right-wing politicians in Italy and that used by conservative U.S. politicians during the lead-up to the 2024 election. Particularly, I noticed that politicians often present immigrants as a danger to the economy; they encourage citizens to fear that immigrants will take their jobs, drive down wages, or be a drain on government resources. As an Economics major, I have a lot of experience studying the factors that impact key indicators like unemployment, prices, and wages, so I wondered whether or not economic data would support these claims. Through my research, I aim to analyze the rhetoric used by right-wing Italian politicians and compare it to an analysis of Italian economic data. I hope to contribute knowledge to this field and to encourage others to seek truth and develop nuanced opinions based on fact, rather than letting fear or bias drive us to simple conclusions. 

Research Questions

• What are right-wing Italian politicians’ common talking points on the effect of immigration on the Italian economy? What negative economic effects do they claim immigration will have?
• How do these claims align or conflict with Italian economic data? 

Methodology and Objectives

• I will compose a formal literature review to provide an overview of recent work on xenophobia in Italy, anti-immigrant rhetoric in general and in Italian politics, and immigration’s impact on the economies of host countries. 
• I have identified prominent right-wing Italian politicians’ social media profiles and will extract a sample of their posts discussing immigration. I will conduct a close reading and analysis of these posts, alongside scholarly works and news articles regarding anti-immigrant rhetoric, to identify prevalent talking points. 
• I will source national Italian data and conduct an analysis. I plan to focus on the indicators of permanent immigrant inflows, net migration, GDP per capita, and unemployment. I will look for data in the online databases of the Italian National Bank, the Italian National Institute of Statistics, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the OECD. 
• Finally, I’ll produce a formal 10-20 page research paper complete with my literature review, analysis of the rhetoric and economic data, and a comparison of the two. 

Recent Progress and Next Steps

• I’ve organized my sources by topic and outlined my literature review. I’ve also finished taking my sample of immigration-related social media posts, and identified some key talking points used. When it comes to the economic data, I’ve decided to focus on unemployment data, since many politicians’ argue that immigration could lead to increased unemployment for Italians. 
• My next steps are to start writing my literature review, conduct a close reading and analysis of my sample of social media posts, and analyze the economic data with the guidance of my advisor. 

Bibliography

Bubola, Emma. (2024, October 14). Italy Sends Boat to Albania With Migrants Who Were Bound for Italian Shores. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/14/world/europe/italy-migrants-albania.html 

Bubola, Emma. (2025, January 26). Italy Begins Shipping Migrants to Albania, Reviving Stalled Program. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/14/world/europe/italy-migrants-albania.html 

Bubola, E., & Povoledo, E. (2024, October 18). Italian judges strike down request to hold migrants in Albania. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/18/world/europe/italy-albania-migrants-judge.html

The IRC. (2024, October 15). What is the Italy-Albania asylum deal? What Is the Italy-Albania Asylum Deal? https://www.rescue.org/article/what-italy-albania-asylum-deal

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