Abstract
With the success of extreme right political parties in many European countries, the fortunes of the extreme right more generally have become the subject of a growing body of scholarly literature. However, much of the research has focused on parties, elections and voters, while non-institutional activities have only rarely been studied, and mostly in the form of the phenomenon of political violence. Social movement studies have primarily analysed progressive left movements, hence the extreme right movement has not been a substantial subject of research by scholars working in this field either. This is a real pity because, as Mobilizing on the Extreme Right shows, it is striking that the analysis of the extreme right benefits greatly from utilizing theoretical approaches derived from social movement studies. This volume, therefore, definitely fills a gap in the literature examining the extreme right.
Grievances alone cannot explain extreme right mobilization. Hence Caiani, della Porta and Wagemann apply social movement approaches in a ‘small-N’ comparative analysis of the extreme right’s actions, frames, protest repertoire, networking and opportunities in Germany, Italy and the USA. The empirical analysis combines different methods and data ranging from 2000 to 2007 based on the written statements of the extreme right, frame analysis is applied to the meaning of its communication strategies, while links between the websites of the various extreme right groups are used in social network analysis to look at inter-organizational structures. Newspaper articles are used for a protest event analysis to examine the extreme right’s public activities.
Political and discursive opportunity structures differ significantly in the three countries examined. Germany appears to be the country closest to the extreme right, whereas Italy is identified as more open politically, while the USA allows for more radical discourses. This is not without consequences: the German extreme right emphasizes strictly political topics and self-descriptions are central, while in Italy – due to the vivid discourse on EU and globalization issues – discursive opportunities are more conducive to corresponding extreme right mobilization. In the USA, national identity and traditional values seem to be of greater importance, since more moderate groups focus on these issues too. While topics of self-understanding are more relevant in general for subcultural groups and political movements whose existence is often questioned, political parties, by contrast, concentrate more on strictly political issues.
Online networking also differs. Like other social movements, the extreme right involves actors with different organizational structures, strategic preferences and discourses. In Italy, the network is fragmented; in Germany it is denser and much more concentrated on a few central actors; while in the USA it is extremely fragmented with many isolated organizations.
The analysis of protest events indicates that extreme right mobilization is weak in terms of numbers. Overall, mobilization capacity seems to have remained quite stable. That the use of political violence is more relevant than in other social movements is not remarkable. However, beyond violence the contemporary extreme right uses a broad repertoire including actions such as demonstrations and leafleting, but also theatrical performances and squatting in public spaces. This repertoire developed relationally through interactions with other actors, particularly by adopting the tactics of their political adversaries. It includes both outwardly and inwardly oriented activities, with the latter being of significant importance in strengthening in-group solidarity. Both in the USA and the European countries, mobilization is mainly staged at a local level, which can be interpreted as a fact of organizational weakness, but also suggests forms of leaderless organizational structures as observed in other movements.
Identity is a key element in social movement studies. Thus, based on the frame analysis and the protest event analysis, identity-building on the extreme right is also addressed. The definition of the ‘self’ tends towards a nationalist type of identification, especially in Germany, while, additionally, ethnic framing is common in the USA and references to socio-economic issues are of significant importance in Italy. The framing of the ‘us’ stresses the image of the extreme right as a heroic but stigmatized èlite, protecting some specific groups of the population against the perceived menace of the others. It is through this dichotomous vision that boundaries are set between the ‘self’ and the ‘rest’. This identity work seems to be crucial for the extreme right movement.
In the frame analysis, three different types of organizations are included. In each country case an institutional party organization, a political non-party organization, and a subcultural one is selected. Frames often address broad public issues, with a lot of attention devoted to the presentation of self-identity. By bridging new concerns to old ideological elements, the extreme right attempts to adapt to growing fears. Anti-modernism is bridged with new elements opposing the achievements of the new social movements such as women’s rights, and racism is bridged with nativism in political parties. Likewise anti-globalization frames represent a kind of updating of the extreme right’s traditional agenda. Generally calling for a new strengthening of the nation state and national, cultural, ethnic and religious identities, the prognostic frames differ partly, which is explained by differences in political and cultural opportunities. Strategically adapting its critique of democracy to declining trust in representative institutions, authoritarianism is now framed within a populist discourse. Traditional elitism is bridged with the protection of the people against a ‘corrupt’ political class. However, the capacity to adapt to new perceived threats, and thus its mobilization, is limited by the resilience of old frames such as fascist ideology.
In sum, Mobilizing on the Extreme Right is a very important contribution to the literature on the extreme right. By applying social movement approaches, the authors offer us a unique insight into the characteristics of the extreme right in Germany, Italy and the USA. Moreover, the book provides us with a more complete understanding of extreme right mobilization, in particular its cognitive framing and action repertoire, and multiple suggestions for future research, which makes it a must-read for scholars of the extreme right.