Dissertation
Security Cooperation on Migration in the Age of Right-Wing Politics
Working Papers
Rojas Venzor, Jesus E. "Foreign Policy Co-optation: Managing Right-Wing Challengers Through Migration" [JMP] Current Version
The electoral rise of right-wing populism has reshaped domestic political competition across Western democracies. I develop a theory of foreign policy co-optation that explains when and why governments appropriate flexible foreign policy instruments central to the narrative of the opposition to reduce their electoral threat. As right-wing populist parties gain seats, mainstream governments co-opt bilateral migration instruments to counter domestic political challengers. These effects are especially pronounced for governments most challenged by right-wing narratives, rather than ideologically adjacent governments. I employ an original dataset of over 300 security-related cooperation arrangements on migration (CAMs) signed by ten Western frontier states with partners across five continents over the last thirty years. The findings suggest that right-wing populist pressure paradoxically enables executives to manage electoral opposition through foreign policy, highlighting the need to revisit assumptions about the domestic sources of international cooperation and migration policy.
Rojas Venzor, Jesus E. "The Political Right’s Exception: Foreign Aid for Migration Management" [RR at PSQ] Current Version
Conventional wisdom suggests that rising conservatism limits international cooperation, especially when global commitments fail to advance partisan goals. From this perspective, right-wing governments are expected to curtail foreign aid and retreat from international engagement. This study argues instead that right-wing governments engage with the international arena when delegation is decreased and the issue area is relevant for their electoral platform. In the case of migration, rather than delegating migration control to multilateral institutions or NGOs, governments prefer direct aid to origin and transit countries using flexible financial incentives to externalize border enforcement. This strategy allows them to project toughness on migration while avoiding domestic political costs, retaining the greatest degree of control. Drawing on data from twenty-seven Western donor countries and seventy-six recipients, alongside a falsification test, I find support for this theory. Findings reveal that right-wing governments are instrumentalists in practice. They actively employ foreign policy tools to fulfill partisan promises and manage domestic pressures, highlighting a strategic, outward-looking dimension of modern conservatism.
Works in Progress
Rojas Venzor, Jesus E. "Understanding Bilateral Security Cooperation on Migration"
Rojas Venzor, Jesus E. "Evolving Between the Lines: Textual Analysis of Bilateral Security Cooperation on Migration"
Rojas Venzor, Jesus E. "Dampening the Right: The Conditional Effect of Foreign Policy"
Rojas Venzor, Jesus E. "Tripartite Repatriation Agreements in the Global South, Evidence from 1983–2025"
Rojas Venzor, Jesus E. and Wendy Wagner “Dangerous Conditions: Right-Wing Votes and Domestic Terrorism Using Localized Data”
Public Writing
Rojas Venzor, Jesús E. Movies to Help Understand the Politics of Immigration. Good Authority, August 5, 2026.
Rojas Venzor, Jesús E. How Identitarian Rhetoric Is Reshaping U.S. Migration Diplomacy. IGCC, August 5, 2026.
Rojas Venzor, Jesús E. Hardline Migration Policy Risks Eroding Democracy. IGCC, July 17, 2025.
Rojas Venzor, Jesús E. More Data and More Perspectives Are Still Needed. New Questions and Insights from the Launch of IGCC’s Climate-Democracy Incubator, IGCC, February 25, 2025.
Wong, Tom K., Gabriel De Roche, and Jesús E. Rojas Venzor. There’s No Migrant Surge at the U.S. Southern Border. Here’s the Data. The Washington Post, March 25, 2021.