The effect of the refugee crisis and the role of the media on rising populism in Europe

Europe has been going through a critical transformation process in recent years. In particular, the post-2015 refugee crisis has had a significant impact on Europe's cultural, identity, and political dynamics. Rising populism trends and the rhetoric of populist politicians also confirm these. Support for populist parties or movements, which tends to rise in crises, peaked after the refugee crisis. AfD is the most prominent example of these populist parties. On the one hand, the fact that populism is a rising trend even in countries that do not receive many refugees proves media influence. Specifically, after the refugee crisis, the topics covered by the media and their frequent occupation of the agenda caused security and economic concerns. As a result, it pushed the public to support populist parties more. In addition, the effective use of social media by populist leaders has created a new way of political communication and made it easier to reach different groups.