Identitarian Movements, Right‐wing

Abstract

The Identitarian movement is a transnational far‐right network of activists mobilizing against globalization, immigration, and Islam in Europe. Its origins are rooted in the French intellectual movement Nouvelle Droite (New Right, ND), which became influential for having tried to repackage the extreme‐Right belief in hierarchical racial differences to avoid the stigma of interwar fascism. Contemporary Identitarian activism surfaced in the early 2000s, as these ideas inspired action‐oriented groups like the French Bloc Identitaire‐Mouvement Social Européen (Identitarian Bloc‐European Social Movement, BI) and the Italian CasaPound (now CasaPound Italia, CPI). Over the years, the Identitarians have established themselves as a transnational movement mobilizing on European ethno‐national identity via a branded set of symbols, campaigns, activist groups, think‐tanks, sporting clubs, clothing labels, publishers, and much else. Most notably, the now dissolved youth wing of BI, Generation Identity, set up regional chapters in several European countries (including Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, and the UK). Groups modeled after the European movement emerged also in Australia, New Zealand, and North America, but the connections between them remain limited. Albeit its mobilization potential remains limited, the Identitarian movement represents one of the most active global networks within the contemporary far right.