RightNow! - Page 2

Can a cumulative perspective on extremism help us understand the ebb and flow of political violence and mobilization? Focusing on left- and right-wing extremism, Chris Holmsted Larsen discusses the interdependency between mutually hostile movements in Denmark

The Covid-19 crisis is exploited by Viktor Orbán to consolidate power and undermine democracy. The increasingly authoritarian Prime Minister has used the pandemic to further authoritarian ends. Democratic backsliding in Hungary has for long been a cause of concern for the European Union.

Activists wearing Yellow Safety Vests started taking the streets in France since October 2018. Many commentators linked their grievances to radical right and “anti-establishment” politics. Why is it not so simple?

Ireland’s general election on 8 February saw a proliferation of radical right-wing candidates but did not herald the expected breakthrough of these parties. As Shaun McDaid explains, the little support for the radical right in Ireland is mainly explained by the ability of the political left to more effectively mobilise the electorate on issues other than immigration. While not counting on imminent success, the radical right in Ireland might nevertheless have the stamina to play the long game. 

Multiagency collaboration structures are given a central role in preventing the recruitment of youth to extremism. In this study of Nordic policies developed to counter extremism and prevent crime, we have mapped and compared how multiagency collaboration is to be organized, what practices that are to be utilized and the legal frameworks that guides information sharing practices in collaborative work. The findings entail previously unknown discrepancies, similarities and differences between the Nordic countries that can help to inform a sometimes heated and polarized debate on how extremism is being handled. 

What role does religion play in Western European politics nowadays? Is it true that the radical right rediscovered religion for its political communication? C-REX visiting fellow Jakob Schwörer and Xavier Romero-Vidal address these questions in a recently published article in “Religion State and Society”. The text analysis on 36 European parties suggest that nativist parties are focusing on rejecting a religious outgroup, namely Islam, but hardly refer to religious in-groups such as Christians. Since the radical right rarely refers to other religious dimensions than the exclusion of Muslims, there is limited empirical evidence of the so-called “rise of religion” in party politics.

Over this past week, the Indian capital of Delhi has been home to violence between Hindus and Muslims with a rising death toll each day. Eviane Leidig shows not only how this is the most recent manifestation of a legacy of right-wing extremist activity in India, but also that the response of global far right actors suggest a more disturbing connection between the extreme right in India and the West. 

Conspiracy theories have been crucial in the radicalization process of the perpetrator of the Hanau-attack in Germany. Terje Emberland suggests that they were not only important on a political level but also, and perhaps most importantly, on a personal level – as they can help explain why individuals decide to engage in political violence.

On February 19^th, a 43-year-old German man carried out a far-right terror attack in the city of Hanau, in central Germany. He shot nine people at two locations in the city centre, as well as his own mother before committing suicide. He left a lengthy manifesto outlining his anti-migrant and racist worldview. In a month marked by the breaking of the country's long-enduring political ‘cordon-sanitaire’ , coupled with evidence of extensive far-right terrorist mobilisation and its most deadly terror attack since 1980, it is clear that Germany’s institutions are at a critical juncture in the struggle against right-wing extremism.

In the aftermath of the festive month, Dutch PhD candidate Iris Beau Segers looks back on the annually recurring issue of Black Pete in the Netherlands, whose blackfaced appearance has been at the heart of a controversial public debate for almost a decade.  

The RTV trend report recently published by C-REX shows that, since the 1990s, severe forms of right-wing terrorism and violence in Western Europe have decreased, particularly gang-related and unorganized forms of violence. Today, so-called ‘lone actors’ carry out most of the violence, a trend that has been reinforced by the emergence of various online platforms.  

What makes people translate their thoughts and feelings into action? With hate crimes against asylum seekers on the rise across Europe, this question has become increasingly relevant today. C-REX affiliate scholar Iris Segers argues that we need to look more closely at protesting communities, and engage with their stories, in order to understand what drives mobilization against asylum seekers across Western Europe.

As far right politics is becoming an ever bigger part of mainstream politics, opponents and scholars of the far right have to leave their 20^th century thinking behind and critically review their received wisdom. What might have been true in the 1990s, might no longer be true today. Taboos have been broken, preferences have shifted, and the broader political context has become much more accepting to far right politics and politicians.

How can analysis of ‘credibility contests’ help us understand where and when anti-minority activism is more likely to gain momentum? Joel Busher, Gareth Harris and Graham Macklin draw on their recent research to provide some pointers.

Ethnonationalism has been as common in Georgia as in other post-Soviet countries, but the far-right social movement has especially been gaining traction for the past five years, gradually becoming larger, more diverse, and more violent. The parliamentary elections approaching in 2020 create a window of opportunity for far-right actors to gain access to mainstream politics. ​

During the last few years, especially around the refugee crisis in 2015-16, vigilante groups popped up all over Europe and North America, patrolling the streets and national borders. They claimed to protect the local citizenry against crime and security threats constituted by illegal migrants and minority groups.

Liberal Roots of Far-Right Activism, by Lars Erik Berntzen, discusses the nature and implications of the anti-Islamic turn of the contemporary far right in Western Europe, North America and beyond.

In the aftermath of the episodes of mass political violence that have occurred across Europe over the past decade, scholars and commentators are regularly confronted with the question of ‘how can we prevent this from happening again?’. Håvard Haugstvedt, PhD at the University of Stavanger and visiting researcher at C-REX, explains why answering is more complex than usually assumed.

Wednesday, October 9, 2019 – when the Jewish community all over the world was celebrating the holiest day in the year, Yom Kippur – 27-year-old German Stephan B. was mounting a helmet in a rented car and prepared for what he hoped would be a mass shooting attack against the nearby synagogue in Halle an der Saale.

In the wake of Sunday´s general election in Austria, the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) has faced a sharp decline in votes. FPÖ´s major loss is due to a recent corruption scandal, but it is also most likely caused by the declining salience of the immigration issue

Petter Nesser's key note lecture on Society for Terrorism Research annual conference, Oslo, 21 June 2019

Last month saw more than 900 million eligible voters at the ballot box in the world’s largest democracy. India’s national election once again resulted in the landslide victory of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The established radical right party in Denmark experienced a significant setback in the general election. The main reasons are a combination of mainstream cooptation, radical competitors and an unfavorable political agenda. 

This is a party that embraces Mussolini and Che Guevara — and cartoons and pop culture

The contribution from the Scandinavian far right – the Danish People’s Party (DF) and the Sweden Democrats (SD) – to Salvini's alliance, the European Alliance of People and Nations, is likely to be very small. In short, because DF is losing support and because SD is uninterested in joining.