Far-right Research Articles

Agency, institutions, and welfare chauvinism: Tracing the exclusion of European Union migrant citizens from social assistance in Germany

What explains welfare chauvinistic policy reform, that is, targeted exclusion of non-citizens from welfare? Existing research suggest that contextual factors like far-right party success, perceived immigration pressures, party ideologies and institutions could spur such reform, but the processes behind reforms remain understudied. This article draws on public policy literature to call attention the critical role of agency and institutions in welfare chauvinist reform. It focuses on a law excluding migrant EU citizens from social assistance in Germany. Through process tracing and inductive reconstruction of the policy process, based on political documents, interviews, media reporting and descriptive statistics, we show that the policy proposal originated from German city administrations; that the city of Hamburg was key in pushing for exclusions; and that Hamburg’s success in doing so crucially depended on the city’s mayor. Several comparable German cities (in terms of party politics and levels of immigration) were equally concerned with ‘welfare immigration’ and complained about problem pressure, but only Hamburg had a committed mayor with the right political networks and institutional resources to lobby for welfare exclusions at the federal level.

Reflection of Political Struggle in Italy in Documents of Communist International (1919—1923)

The article examines the events that unfolded in Italy between 1919 and 1923. Based on a large number of documents, archival sources, and literature, it explores the fierce struggle between socialists, communists, on one side, and fascists on the other, which culminated in Benito Mussolini’s victory in 1922. The article analyzes the theoretical understanding of fascism as a phenomenon by the communists, as well as the development of methods to combat it, which were reflected in the congresses of the Communist International and the plenums of its Executive Committee from 1919 to 1923. The novelty of the research lies in addressing the issue of confrontation between left and far-right parties after World War I, during the formation of a new world order. The author concludes that the intensification of the struggle between the Communist Party of Italy, the Socialist Party of Italy, and fascism reflected a political crisis in Italian society and an attempt by radical forces to find a way out of it. Fascism, with its idea of a third way representing something between capitalism and socialism, came to power in Italy. The realization of their mistakes ultimately allowed the left parties to unite with all anti-fascist forces in the Resistance movement and defeat Nazism during World War II.

Muhammad Imarah's Thought on Fiqh Moderation

Abstract: Modern scholars know the clash of two conflicting currents of thought, between the extreme right (tafrith) and the extreme left (ifrath) currents. This is very dangerous for Islamic civilization. Therefore, wasathiy (moderate) Islamic scholars, such as Muhammad Imarah (1931-2020) seek to direct Muslims to understand and implement the teachings of wasathoy Islam. This article discusses Muhammad Imarah's thoughts on the fiqh of moderation. This research is literature and qualitative. Data collection is carried out through a literature review and analyzed descriptively. The results of the study concluded that about moderation fiqh, Muhammad Imarah argued that moderate ijtihad needs to be developed for now. Muhammad Imarah stated that the relationship between text and ijtihad is always side by side (al-talazum wa al musahabah daiman wa abadan), there is a text, there is ijtihad and ijtihad departs from the text, and ijtihad is to peel the meaning contained in a text to decide the fiqh law of the text. The fiqh verdict is subjective because it takes the form of conjecture (al-dhan).

Hindutva Civilizationism in India: Unravelling the Human-Ecological Conditions

India’s Hindutva movement, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party, has risen to power in the world’s largest democracy and second-most populous country. Various scholars have examined how Hindu nationalism is rooted in civilizational themes; others have examined how ancient Hindu elements are employed in BJP environmental politics. Yet a comprehensive and interdisciplinary conceptualization of civilizationism that places it, firstly, at the heart of Hindutva and, secondly, confronts it as not solely a discursive or thematic tool but as the manifesting of physical control over citizens’ relationships to their material environment is lacking. This means approaching ‘civilization’ in the far right as a human-ecological structure and not only a historical bedrock of ethno-territorial and theocratic power. In order to conceptualize Hindutva civilizationism, I re-examine two well-known cases of Sangh Parivar environmental politics: (1) Hindutva geography and spatial violence; and (2) anti-meat and cow vigilante politics. Beyond serving as a discourse that ignites violence and far-right extremism, I showcase how the sounding board of ‘civilization’ encapsulates the relationship between sociopolitical and environmental far-right objectives, highlighting the ways that far-right civilizationism seeks to define human relationships with natural and built environments. Conceptualizing civilizationism in this way strengthens understandings of how the racial, ethno-national, and religious features of far-right politics are rooted in ecological doctrine that is often based on the social-material features of past ‘civilization’. This supports the primordial significance of civilizationism in far-right ideology beyond only the white supremacist far-right and ‘Western Civilization’.

‘When in Rome do as the Romans do’ or ‘Rome is for Romans only’? How the search for a classification of the Finns Party could clear a way through the taxonomical jungle of the European far-right

The first aim of this study is to put the Finns Party on the academic map of the European far-right. Whilst averaging almost one-fifth of the vote over the last four general elections, it has been curiously absent from the comparative parties’ literature. The second aim is to consider how the search for an appropriate classification of the Finns Party might help to navigate a way through the terminological maze of parties parading under the European far-right umbrella. The starting point is a simple, working definition of the two main sub-types – radical right and extreme right – which the article provides. It also canvasses wider recognition of the intraparty dynamics and coalitional character of far-right parties and the need to incorporate a greater role for social media into work on party classification, not least in providing a mouthpiece for extremist elements. In the Finns Party’s case, an online extreme-right faction was able to exert disproportionate influence within, and ultimately capture the party.

No school of hard knocks: education policies and ideologies of Slovak far-right parties

ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to examine the unexplored intersection between the ideologies and education policies of the Slovak far-right party family. From a theoretical perspective, the article draws on the morphological approach to the study of ideology. By using this approach, the main goal of this article is to analyse, map, and compare education policies in the context of the ideologies of three successful yet ideologically distinct examples of far-right parties in Slovakia. The analysis aims to identify the education policies of Slovakia’s far-right parties and define their positions and roles both within and outside of their respective ideologies. On a more general level, by examining the Slovak case, the article addresses the question of whether, and if so, to what extent the far-right’s education policies are also far-rightist education policies.

Socialized with "old cleavages" or "new dimensions": An Age-Period-Cohort analysis on electoral support in Western European multiparty systems (1949–2021)

Across Western Europe, the electoral base of formerly dominating parties on the left and the right has been eroding in the past decades. In contrast, both far-right parties and green parties could expand their vote share in numerous elections all over Western Europe - especially among younger voters. Still, those transformations in multiparty systems remain understudied: Are those electoral differences representing a cohort effect within the left and within the right bloc? This study uses survey data from ten Western European countries spanning over 60 years to test for cohort differences in political blocs. By applying multilevel logistic regression models and generalized additive mixed models, the analysis yields generational differences within the left and the right, with more recent cohorts being more likely to vote for greens than other left-wing and more likely to prefer the far-right over other right-wing parties. Those results shed light on the cohort-driven electoral realignment in Western Europe.

The Effects of Import Shocks, Electoral Institutions, and Radical Party Competition on Legislator Ideology: Evidence from France

Abstract Across advanced industrialized democracies, the political centre is collapsing as politicians on the far right and far left enjoy increasing electoral success. Recent research links import shocks to voter support for far-right parties. However, we know comparatively less about how these shocks impact individual legislator ideology, especially that of mainstream politicians. Do import shocks drive economic or cultural ideological shifts among mainstream legislators? If so, to what extent do local competitive contexts shape these shifts? Using a dataset of French Senate roll call votes, we find that localized increases in import exposure moves elite ideology to the left economically; this is magnified in departments with majoritarian electoral systems. We show that legislators shift their cultural positions in response to import shocks, but only when faced with extremist political competitors focused on cultural issues. Our results suggest the value of attending to how political and economic geography intersect to shape elite policy positions.

Comparative analysis of gendered frames in far-right rhetoric in the West

ABSTRACT This research delves into the examination of gender frames within a number of far-right platforms, such as American Renaissance, Heritage and Destiny, Britain First, Daily Stormer, and Front Page Magazine. Our primary objective is to dissect the construction of gendered frames and their consequential roles within the broader far-right political and ideological landscapes in the West. Employing a mixed-method approach, we scrutinize English language material from the aforementioned online platforms. This study argues that despite differences among these platforms, the representations of women’s roles and identities are consistently shaped and moulded in alignment with overarching political and ideological perspectives such as racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism, anti-immigration, anti-feminism, anti-left, and anti-media. These perspectives serve as amplifiers, further contributing gendered frames. Ultimately, this dynamic process of constructing gendered frames contributes to the development of far-right identities, drawing distinct demarcation lines between ‘us’ and ‘them’.

Hate-Speech Countering by Immigrant and Pro-Immigrant Associations in Almeria (Spain)

In recent years, there has been an exponential increase in anti-immigrant hate speech on social media. Drawing on interviews with 15 immigrant associations and 11 pro-immigrant associations in the southern Spanish province of Almería, as well as digital ethnography, this article explores strategies used by immigrant and pro-immigrant associations to counter hate speech. The rise of this hate speech, disseminated mainly by far-right parties, has occurred at a time when many immigrant associations have little or no access to social media platforms. However, members of all these associations (immigrant and pro-immigrant) are aware of the perverse effects of these discourses, as they have either received them on their personal social media platforms or experienced abhorrent hate-speech attacks against their members and/or users. Despite their difficulties in navigating the “glocaline political arena”, they have participated in a number of projects and developed tools that allow them to generate a counter-discourse. We identify and explore the richness and diversity of these online campaigns and activities, highlighting the difficulties that immigrant associations—compared to pro-immigrant ones—face in navigating the glocaline political arena.

Rechte Wahlgewinne, rechte EU-Politik? Die Europäische Union am Wendepunkt

This contribution analyses possible consequences of the expected gains of far-right parties in the election year of 2024 on the politics of the European Union (EU). It discusses what goals far-right parties pursue and whether they might gain influence because of the elections. The main argument is that far-right parties seek an authoritarian and institutionally fragile EU. Yet, the EU institutions will still have the majorities necessary to design policies without far-right parties. Therefore, the key question is rather how the institutional norms of the EU will develop. Here, the Parliament and the Council face different challenges: Will the cordon sanitaire in the Parliament hold? Should the consensus norm of the Council apply to far-right governments? The Commission must decide whether it should act more proactively against far-right actors and autocratization. In all institutions, continuity is the most likely outcome. However, the cordon sanitaire in the Parliament could come to an end.

An International Far-Right Alliance? A Comparative Analysis of the Linkages Between the Republican Party and European Far-Right Parties

An International Far-Right Alliance? A Comparative Analysis of the Linkages Between the Republican Party and European Far-Right Parties

Ethics of Studying Illiberalism in a Hyperconnected, Polycrisis-defined Era: An Introduction to the Special Issue

As of April 2024, at the time of composing this introductory note, research on the challenges faced by liberal democracies—whether established or aspiring—appears to be in continuously high demand. One needs only to focus on a small domain, election results, to realize the scope and intensity of those threats to the existing order. While elections of last year in Poland brought some hope for the pro-EU, left-wing opposition in Europe, populist far-right parties have secured a victory in the Netherlands, further fueling fears of a significant shift to the right in the upcoming European Parliament elections. The recent casting-of-ballots in Russia has ensured incumbent Vladimir Putin's presidency for another six years, while the fall 2024 elections in the US, with Donald Trump as the primary Republican candidate, promise to be a tough race for the Democrats. In India, Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi will run for a third term, competing against a broad alliance of opposition parties that are struggling to catch up.

A comparative study of the electoral rhetoric of extreme right-wing parties in Germany and Russia

This article compares the electoral rhetoric of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) parties through the prism of the level of antagonization and the parties’ point of view on topical social issues. Discourse analysis is conducted using discourse frames and blocks, allowing formalizing the comparison between texts in different languages. The sample is based on party videos published online in April — May 2021 in the run-up to the upcoming federal elections in both countries. The LDPR uses more antagonistic rhetoric, especially against Western countries and Ukraine. The AfD uses we to unite its electorate, seeing the German and European establishment as its opponents, as well as organizations with an international agenda, including the Greens and the Antifa movement. Both parties raise important social issues such as immigration, digitalization, political freedoms, and national identity, but differences in emphasis emerge. The AfD is more likely to raise issues of economic freedom for business and the defense of German burgher culture against the leftist agenda, while the LDPR is focused on supporting Russian foreign policy and Russian culture against Western globalism. The authors also emphasize that modern far-right parties support democratic principles. Nationalism remains central to far-right ideology, but it is drifting towards democracy under the influence of sociocultural processes. The study aims to improve understanding of the dynamics of far-right political discourse in Germany and Russia. The theoretical developments allow us to expand the application of discourse analysis of political rhetoric.

The Many Genealogies of Feminist Activism

The stakes of feminist activism, and the fault lines within feminism, have a newfound significance in this cultural moment. In response to the fall of Roe, the ascendancy of incendiary far-right politics, and the mainstreaming of white-supremacist ideologies, grassroots feminist activism and its impacts have never mattered more. When reading Rachel Seidman's Speaking of Feminism and Arielle Rotramel's Pushing Back, both books that feature interviews and ethnographic work on feminists and feminist groups prior to the 2016 election (Seidman interviewed participants from 2014 to 2016, and Rotramel worked on this material primarily from 2007 to 2011), the gap between the pre- and post-2016 realities seems ever more stark. These books highlight feminisms just prior to the series of aggressive assaults that feminism (and all forms of social justice) would face following the 2016 US presidential election. Both serve as a kind of warning—feminists of all ages understood the hazards of fusing misogyny and white supremacy—and as capturing the histories of feminist activism before the cascade of traumas that would ensue from 2016 to the present day. In this way, feminist ethnographic work and interviews with activists operate as time capsules with unique relevance to the genealogical structure of feminist history and activism. By foregrounding women-of-color-led activisms in particular, historians can trace in this period the movement from theorizing about intersectionality to enacting feminist activisms that draw from experiences of marginalization. The significance of feminist work that built on, and contributed to, theorizing about intersecting identities and interlocking oppressions is brought boldly to life in these two texts.

The Risks to Germany’s Peace and Security Generated by the Reichsbürger Movement or “Citizens of the Reich” Based on Political and Religious Convictions

In recent years, the extreme right in Germany has expanded, the phenomenon gaining momentum. The far-right groups and organisations in Germany were, are and will be dominated by an ideology that amalgamates religious or non-religious ideas but that defends German culture and spirituality according to its visions and objectives. Adherents of far-right ideology combine these ideas with conspiracy theories, and on such a background, some of them change their attitude towards society and become violent. For example, right-wing extremists attacked the Parliament, the symbol of democracy, for the first time in Germany, namely on 29 August 2020, and later on 6 January 2021, protesters, including right-wing extremists, attacked the Congress of the United States of America. One of the organisations, such as the Reichsbürger Movement, which means Citizens of the Reich, who reject the current borders of Germany and want the return to those established in 1871, set up cells and planned activities recently catalogued as terrorists by German prosecutors, in December 2022 and May 2023. For the Citizens of the Reich, there is no Federal Republic of Germany because this country is part of a conspiracy and part of a satanic state system, and they recognise only Imperial Germany. According to the religious beliefs of some of them, the imperial constitution was received from God and must be respected, and they are in an apocalyptic battle between good and evil. The model invoked by some of them is that of Jesus Christ who changed society, erroneously invoking biblical precepts to bolster their claims.

Riscurile la adresa păcii și securității Germaniei generate de mișcarea Reichsbürger sau „cetăţenii Reichului” pe fondul convingerilor politice și religioase

In recent years, the extreme right in Germany has expanded, the phenomenon gaining momentum. The far-right groups and organisations in Germany were, are and will be dominated by an ideology that amalgamates religious or non-religious ideas but that defends German culture and spirituality according to its visions and objectives. Adherents of far-right ideology combine these ideas with conspiracy theories, and on such a background, some of them change their attitude towards society and become violent. For example, right-wing extremists attacked the Parliament, the symbol of democracy, for the first time in Germany, namely on 29 August 2020, and later on 6 January 2021, protesters, including right-wing extremists, attacked the Congress of the United States of America. One of the organisations, such as the Reichsbürger Movement, which means Citizens of the Reich, who reject the current borders of Germany and want the return to those established in 1871, set up cells and planned activities recently catalogued as terrorists by German prosecutors, in December 2022 and May 2023. For the Citizens of the Reich, there is no Federal Republic of Germany because this country is part of a conspiracy and part of a satanic state system, and they recognise only Imperial Germany. According to the religious beliefs of some of them, the imperial constitution was received from God and must be respected, and they are in an apocalyptic battle between good and evil. The model invoked by some of them is that of Jesus Christ who changed society, erroneously invoking biblical precepts to bolster their claims.

MINERAL EXPLORATION IN INDIGENOUS LANDS: THE DISCURSIVE NORMALIZATION OF ILLEGAL MINING IN BRAZIL

In 2023, the world faced a humanitarian tragedy in Brazil involving the Yanomami people. In addition to the result of criminal conduct of public policies aimed at indigenous peoples in the last four years, the case highlights a culture of erasure of Brazilian native peoples that permeates society, institutions, and the mainstream press. In this work, we discuss how mining in indigenous lands has been approached discursively in Brazil. For this, we analyze the conversations on Twitter related to #AtoPelaTerra, a protest in defense of the environment and against the bill that authorizes mining in indigenous lands, held in Brasília in March 2022. To understand the conversation dynamics of the publications collected, we performed a network analysis (WASSERMAN & FAUST, 1994) and to analyze the speeches produced by the subjects who participated in the debate, we adopted the Analysis of Connected Concepts (LINDGREEN 2016). Our results demonstrate that the conversation about the indigenous agenda has been polarized and with a strong misinformation content, especially in the field of the extreme right. In addition, the defense of native peoples and environmental preservation has a limited scope to its most active militancy. In the mainstream media, both the environmental agenda and the indigenous agenda are softened by replacing the term “mining” with “mineral exploration”, which ends up normalizing (FOUCAULT, 2003) practices that are harmful to the environment and indigenous peoples, as an effect of a crossing of the economic and supposedly developmentalist debate that prevails in these spaces.

The Sweden Democrats and the Twitterstorm of the decade – from social media to riot through a rhetorical vision

Amidst the European migrant crisis, a provocative advertisement campaign by the far-right party the Sweden Democrats was destroyed by a mob. No other campaign in Sweden had attracted a similar amount of attention and resentment. This qualitative case study analyses the activism rhetoric that caused the ‘Twitterstorm’ of the decade. Through a fantasy theme analysis, it determines how the protesters defended their anti-racist rhetorical vision. Action themes connected to fantasy types and symbolic cues provoked the Twittersphere, leading activists to destroy the campaign, transcending the virtual for the physical. This event is a paradigm case for rhetorical-political social media activism and gives insight into how the SD’s provocative rhetoric functions.

Common sense, populism, and reactionary politics on Twitter: An analysis of populist far-right common sense narratives between 2008 and 2022

Far-right parties often depict their ideas as ‘common sense’ and as self-evident, natural, just, and proper. This article examines the extent to which there is a uniform ‘far-right common sense’. Using a mixed-methods computational approach, we analysed Twitter posts mentioning ‘common sense’ from the accounts of far-right parties in the UK, France, Italy, and the USA between 2008 and 2022. Results from our comparative study suggest that uniformity in far-right constructions of common sense is limited by varying socio-economic/political contexts. Meanwhile, our analysis also opens the door for future research on the role of mainstream actors in the legitimisation of reactionary common sense narratives.