European Extreme Right Research Articles

Far-right European foreign fighters in the Yugoslav and Ukraine wars. Ideological and geopolitical implications between Westernist and Eurasianist radicalisms

ABSTRACT This study analyzes the positions taken by the European extreme right, in the French and Italian cases, with respect to the Yugoslav wars both in the political dimension and in that of foreign fighting. A clear rift between pro-Croatian and pro-Serbian right-wing extremists is emerging, anticipating the one that occurred recently after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The study reconstructs the ideological and geopolitical motivations of both pro-Serbs and pro-Croats, placing them within the different souls of the European extreme right. It also analyzes the geopolitical context and how the different choices of radical right-wing groups are placed in relation to the action of macro-subjects such as states and their intelligence. What emerges is how since the Yugoslav wars a clear fracture has arisen between right-wing Westernist radicalism and right-wing anti-Western radicalism of Eurasian matrix that becomes the glue for the phenomenon of Red-Brownism, the convergence of the extreme right and the extreme left in a common geopolitical framework and against a common enemy, observable in the Ukrainian conflict with radicals of the right and left acting as comrades in pro-Russian militias.

Cultural imaginaries of the extreme right: an introduction

This special issue sheds light on what we call the ‘cultural imaginaries’ of the contemporary European extreme right. The focus on cultural imaginaries—a term we will explore more fully below—entai...

French Immigration—Demography Meets Politics: A Review Essay

French Immigration—Demography Meets Politics: A Review Essay

Challenges and promises of comparative research into post-Soviet fascism: Methodological and conceptual issues in the study of the contemporary East European extreme right

The international study of fascism has, over the last 25 years, experienced considerable consolidation. Inspired by influential theoretical publications of Roger D. Griffin and others, a new sub-discipline, “comparative fascist studies,” has emerged that proceeds from a largely common conceptualization of fascism. It explicitly includes and particularly promotes the cross-cultural, as well as inter-epochal investigation into ultra-nationalisms outside Central and Western Europe after the year 1945. The concepts, approaches and hypotheses of this new sub-discipline are well-suited to be applied to the study of inter-war and post-Soviet right-wing radicalism in Eastern Europe. However, before comprehensive classification and informative comparison becomes possible, the putative fascist phenomena of Eastern Europe need more thorough descriptive analysis, field research, and empirical investigation by researchers, in the region.

Populist Parties in Germany, France, and the UK: Growing Support for a Radical Rejection of Globalization?

A mere look at electoral results on both the national and European level of many European countries shows that populist and right-wing parties’ support has been growing extensively. The French Front National (FN), which has made significant strides since Marine Le Pen took over the party’s leadership, is often seen as on the forefront of this movement, and is deemed to be a core part of the contemporary European extreme right. Although their individual agendas and rhetoric differ from that of the FN, the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and the German Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany, AfD) are often placed in the same party family. Disregarding this hotly debated terminology, however, this paper seeks to identify specific differences and overlaps among the three parties. Examining specific agenda points, most prominently their anti-immigration rhetoric and stance toward the EU, the party programs are used as a starting point to assess to what extent the three parties can justifiably be classified as part of an anti-globalization movement. Prior to examining the parties’ positions concerning specific issues, an influx in immigration, increased integration into the European Union, resulting in a transfer of some national powers to the supranational level, as well as growing xenophobia, Islamophobia, and anti-Americanism have sometimes been identified as consequences of globalization; negative attitudes toward this development, increased nationalism, and policy proposals designed to halt these effects were deemed as highly indicative of a radical rejection of globalization. Following a comparative analysis of the three parties’ positions, the discussion shows that the French “Front National” fulfills the given criteria to a much greater extent than the other two, and its ethnic-based, Francocentric rhetoric is much more extreme than that of its counterparts. Nevertheless, a future radicalization in the UK and Germany is conceivable, particularly since Islamophobia is especially pronounced in the three countries under investigation, and as refugee crises in the Mediterranean Sea are leading to an increased foreign presence in said countries, perhaps sparking similar ethnic intolerance as is propagated by the FN.

Sarah Harrison and Michael Bruter, Mapping extreme right ideology: An empirical geography of the European extreme right, reviewed by Elisabeth Carter

Sarah Harrison and Michael Bruter, Mapping extreme right ideology: An empirical geography of the European extreme right, reviewed by Elisabeth Carter

Do Modern Radicals Believe in Their Mythologies? A Comparison between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Legion of the Archangel Michael in the Light of Four Political Mythologies

This study seeks to employ the concept of political mythology in order to test the applicability of a comparative grid applied to two discursive orders produced by one salient expression of modern Islamic fundamentalism/radicalism and by the interwar European extreme right. Narrowing the perspective, the study intends to compare the fundamental texts of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and of the Romanian Legion of the Archangel Michael (Legiunea Arhanghelului Mihail) by resorting to four political mythologies coined by the French historian Raoul Girardet: the Conspiracy, the Savior, the Golden Age and Unity. My hypothesis can be summarized as follows: as imaginative acts of world creation/destruction, political mythologies are structures of meaning which allow a comparative approach that preserves intact the tension between similarity and difference. Therefore, Wittgenstein's epistemological edge of the theory of ‘family resemblance’ could be amplified by the employment of political mythologies. Consequently the broad ranging cross-boundary comparisons gain systematic value without falling into the trap of rigid taxonomies. Consequently I seek to demonstrate that despite a basic structure of similarities, the fundamentalism of the Islamic Brotherhood and the radicalism of the Romanian extreme right appear in the light of political mythologies as bearing features that differ markedly from the Islamofascist paradigm.

NurettinTopçu: the Reinvention of Islamism in Republican Turkey

In 1934, NurettinTopcu returned to Turkey after becoming the first Turkish student to obtain a doctorate in philosophy at la Sorbonne. Strongly influenced by Turkish conservative ideas, in France, Topcu became passionate of Maurice Blondel and Louis Massignon as wellhhu as the strengthening European extreme right. Back to his homeland, the Turkish intellectual worked as a publisher and teacher until his death in 1975. His articles and books became very popular among a new religious generation that were disappointed by the Republic and the secular elites. Topcu gave a re-interpretation of nationalism, provided new basis to reconstruct Muslim thought in a secular context, and a methodology to operate without clashing with the secular establishment. Indeed, Topcu is particularly important because he invented a new and peculiar lexicon for Turkish Islamism. NurettinTopcuis a key author to understand Islamism in republican Turkey as he is the author that contributed most to the shaping of Islamist lexicon and values. The present paper will then try to understand the genesis of his ideas and some aspects of them'mainly modernity, nationalism, and state', which characterized his generation of Islamist intellectuals and deeply influenced the following generation.

Extreme-Right Ideology, Practice and Supporters: Case Study of the Serbian Radical Party

This paper deals with the European extreme right in general, and the Serbian extreme right in particular. One can find almost all the symptoms of the extreme right present in the ideology of the Serbian Radical Party, as the leading extreme-right party in Serbia. In the unlikely case of a general upsurge of the European extreme right, the Radicals might even join forces with more extremist neo-Nazi groups and thus produce a frightening reincarnation of the SA formations. A more realistic danger comes from the attractiveness of the Serbian Radical Party to the lower strata. The losers in the process of social transformation, such as the numerous unemployed, unskilled and semi-skilled workers represent a deep reservoir of support for the extreme right, especially given the profound lack of credibility of the left in Serbia at the end of the 1990s. With so many losers produced by the post-socialist economic reforms and with the bitterly disputed status of Kosovo and Republika Srpska, the political potential of the extreme right in Serbia is ominously large. Nevertheless, the recent split will certainly damage the SRP very signficantly, leaving it without able politicians in the leadership.

Varieties of Euroscepticism: The Case of the European Extreme Right

The European extreme right has been understood as a monolithic entity regarding its Euroscepticism. Contrary to this, it is demonstrated in this article that in fact the extreme right adopts varying positions on Europe. Theoretically, party positions on Europe are conceptualised as a three-fold dimension, namely positions on first the principle, second the practice, and third the future of EU cooperation. From this, three types of Euroscepticism are identified. First, the ‘rejecting’ type comprising parties against all abovementioned dimensions. Second, the ‘conditional’ type containing parties not against the principle of EU cooperation but against its practice and its future. Third, the ‘compromising’ type including parties accepting both the principle and the practice of EU cooperation but opposing further integration. In accounting for this diversity, the article concludes that first, the parties displaying strong authoritarian values reject Europe regardless of their economic policy. Second, the parties refraining from ‘rejecting’ Euroscepticism support centrist and capitalist economic policies displaying comparatively less authoritarian values.

An Eastern Incarnation of the European New Right: Aleksandr Panarin and New Eurasianist Discourse in Contemporary Russia1

This paper investigates the thinking of Aleksandr Panarin (1940–2003), a political philosopher who became, during the last 10 years of his life, the most significant advocate of new Eurasianism, an extreme right-wing school of thought, in Russia. I compare Panarin's ideas with those of the representatives of the European extreme right, namely Nouvelle Droite intellectuals, including Alain de Benoist, and shed light on similarities between the two. I argue that Panarin should be considered as a spokesperson of the European New Right in Russia and that his new Eurasianist discourse echoes some European New Right ideas. The intellectual parallels between the European New Right and new Eurasianism, I suggest, are a manifestation of the transnational nature of the extreme right and the Europeanization of Russian ultra-nationalism.

The Enemy of My Enemy: The Alarming Convergence of Militant Islam and the Extreme Right (review)

Reviewed by: The Enemy of My Enemy: The Alarming Convergence of Militant Islam and the Extreme Right Saul Lerner The Enemy of My Enemy: The Alarming Convergence of Militant Islam and the Extreme Right, by George Michael. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2006. 397 pp. $34.95. George Michael has written a very important book in The Enemy of My Enemy: The Alarming Convergence of Militant Islam and the Extreme Right. Not only has he effectively described the historic background of both U.S. and [End Page 138] non-U.S. extremist and hate groups and militant Islamic groups, but he has effectively shown how such groups share goals and objectives and, therefore, are likely to develop and encourage future cooperative efforts. The book describes the nature, political objectives, and historical backgrounds of such groups as Hamas, Hezbollah, Fatah, the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda, white supremacists, Holocaust deniers, the American and the European extreme right, neo-Nazis, radical Christians, and others. Michael makes clear that although “virtually all terrorists come from the ranks of extremists, most extremists are not terrorists,” but “political extremism often serves as an incubator for future terrorism” (p. 13). Opposition between militant Islamists and American extremists over religious belief, racial/ethnic background, cultural differences, and other important distinctions has not undermined the goals that the two groups hold in common, and both continue to oppose modernity, democracy, aspects of capitalism and globalization, the United States, nation-states, and other such phenomena. Moreover, both militant Islamists and the extreme right are angered by U.S. involvement in the Middle East, participation of the United States in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. support of Israel, and the influence of Israel on U.S. politics and political decision making. These groups are strongly motivated by support of the Palestinian cause, a deep commitment to antisemitism, and demonization of the Jew. In his analysis of the American extreme right, Michael indicates that two major changes have taken place since the 1980s: the ultimate demise of communism turned this group away from extreme patriotism and, as the nonwhite population of the United States grew, this group became increasingly nihilistic (p. 23), viewed the United States as controlled by a “Zionist Occupation Government” (ZOG), and grew ever-more obsessed with Jews. The result has been that the extreme right has sought destruction of the old order. Terrorism has been seen as a means of shocking the masses into overthrowing Zionist domination (pp. 28–9). Citing the study of Daniel Pipes, Militant Islam Comes to America (New York: W. W. Norton, 2002), the Islamic militants have shared some views with American extremists, for they have been: “[r]adical [u]topian,” “[t]otalitarian,” “[a]ntidemocratic,” “[a]ntimoderate,” “[a]nti-Semitic,” “[a]nti-[w]estern,” and “[u]nwilling to coexist” (pp. 33–34). Militant Islamists view the United States and “Israel—along with a putative international Zionist cabal—” “as the main threat to and oppressor of Islam” (p. 45). Hence, in the same way that the extreme right sees overthrow of the government of the United States as key to the resolution of all American problems, Islamic militants seek to resolve modern problems and the problems [End Page 139] of all humanity by overthrowing U.S./Zionist domination and restoring “the universalistic fervor of early Islam” (p. 34). Based on such works as those of Daniel Pipes, Yossef Bodansky, Islamic Anti-Semitism as a Political Instrument (Houston, TX.: Ariel Center for Policy Studies, 1999), and others, circulation in the Middle East of The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, widespread Arab belief that an Israel lobby dominates American Middle Eastern policy, and support of the destruction of Israel, Michael has built an effective case describing militant Islamist antisemitism. Moreover, he has traced the development of such antisemitism from the years prior to the World War II, including Arab support of the Nazis during World War II, collaboration with neo-Nazis in the post-war period, and opposition to both Israel and Jews throughout the decades since the end of World War II. Anti-Jewish and anti-U.S. perceptions are considered by the author to be part of the political and...

Turkish ultra–nationalists under review: a study of the Nationalist Action Party

This article aims to study the phenomenon of the Turkish National Party (MHP) by reference to the ongoing theoretical debates on the subject of extreme right–wing parties. This is instrumental in finding out whether the MHP displays similar characteristics to its counterparts in Europe, and whether it is an extreme right, a fascist or a centre–right party. The primary hypothesis of this article is that the MHP features many similarities with its European counterparts and hence, is a member of the European extreme right–wing family. In order to test this hypothesis, firstly the historical development of the MHP is clarified. Secondly, the contemporary debates in the study of the extreme right–wing family and different approaches to it are presented. Finally, based on the common characteristics of the extreme right–wing parties in general, the aforementioned hypothesis is tested and verified. The main contention of this article is that the MHP shows all the characteristics of a European extreme right–wing party.

Post‐communist extremism in Eastern Europe: The nature of the phenomenon

The recent electoral gains of extreme right parties in many countries of Europe have made European citizens realise that the extreme right is not to be regarded exclusively as a fringe phenomenon but as a force that can penetrate mainstream democratic politics. The resilience and occasional rise of the radical right poses a serious challenge for social scientists and policy makers. Social scientists are called upon to examine the nature of the phenomenon, the factors conducive to the existence and resilience of the forces of extremism and the impact of far right political mobilisation within national societies and Europe, at large. Governments and policy makers for their part explore ways to marginalise these forces in order to sustain, in Western Europe‐ and consolidate, in Eastern Europe, democracy in the continent. But while there is ample analysis of the West European experience, there is an inadequate understanding of the conditions and circumstances that breed extreme right forces in Eastern Europe. In what follows, the paper will attempt to address the academic debate on the causes and nature of the contemporary East European extreme right. It will assess the relevance of a western oriented approach in the East European context. The article mostly refers to extremism in countries like Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania. These countries are, by and large, functioning democracies, where extreme right parties compete in elections and in some of them are quite influential. All of these countries are applying to become members of the European Union, and this membership is subject to strict political criteria, requiring democratic principles, the rule of law and respect for human rights.

The Transformation of Israel's Extreme Right

The extreme right in Israel was traditionally defined by its hawkish views on the occupied territories and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The decline of this political camp in the 1999 national elections brought many to the conclusion that the Israeli extreme right had died. The main argument of this article is that the king is dead - long live the king. Despite the popular belief that the extreme right in Israel is on the decline, the second wave of right-wing extremism is already here in a stronger and more prevalent form. By accepting a broader definition of the extreme right, it can be concluded that twenty percent of Israeli parliament members represent ideas similar to those of the European extreme right, especially antidemocracy and xenophobia.

The Transformation of Israel's Extreme Right

The extreme right in Israel was traditionally defined by its hawkish views on the occupied territories and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The decline of this political camp in the 1999 national elections brought many to the conclusion that the Israeli extreme right had died. The main argument of this article is that the king is dead - long live the king. Despite the popular belief that the extreme right in Israel is on the decline, the second wave of right-wing extremism is already here in a stronger and more prevalent form. By accepting a broader definition of the extreme right, it can be concluded that twenty percent of Israeli parliament members represent ideas similar to those of the European extreme right, especially antidemocracy and xenophobia.