The far right as social movement

ABSTRACT

The literature on the far right is trying to connect with social movement studies. Scholars from different social scientific backgrounds are increasingly acknowledging that extra-parliamentary grassroots activism is part of the alliance and conflict structure of nativist collective actors. The recent rise in far-right street politics – or, precisely, its re-emergence with seemingly different clothes – should encourage the study of the inter-relations between party and non-party collective actors. As a case in point, the far right not only includes political parties geared towards elections and public office but also social movements or ‘networks of networks’ that aim to mobilise public support, and a conglomeration of subcultural groups and groupuscules. By putting forward a three-part metric to analyse mobilisation factors at the macro, meso, and micro levels, this piece and the Special Issue it introduces bring the (inter-)relations between far-right parties, movements, and subcultures frontstage, and elaborate on nativist collective action across different arenas of contention.

KEYWORDS:

• Far right
• social movements
• political parties
• activism
• mobilisation

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Acknowledgements

The ideas behind this Special Issue took shape in our shared office at the Centre on Social Movement Studies (COSMOS), Scuola Normale Superiore, and were then taken to the rooms of Charles University in Prague and the University of Milan. We would like to thank the participants to the panels ‘The Far Right as Social Movement: Theory, Practice, and Empirical Evidence’ at the 10th General Conference of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) and ‘Movement Parties and Party Movements: Insights into the European Far Right’ at the 30th Meeting of the Italian Political Science Association (SISP). A special thanks finally goes to Hanspeter Kriesi for his attentive reading of, and precise comments on, an earlier draft of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 It is a moot point whether ever-radical parties like Fidesz in Hungary and Law and Justice in Poland are to be considered themselves nativist actors single-handedly holding power in respective countries (e.g. Pirro 2016).

2 Cullen, S. and Cullinane, S. (2017) ‘Germany: Thousands of migrants targeted in attacks last year’, CNN, February 27, https://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/27/europe/germany-attacks-on-migrants/index.html (accessed 27/03/2018).

3 ‘25 attacks on refugee facilities last year in Austria’, The Local, March 29, 2016, www.thelocal.at/20160329/25-attacks-on-refugee-facilities-last-year-in-austria (accessed 27/03/2018).

4 Castelli Gattinara, P. and O’Connor, F. (2018) ‘An Italian neo-fascist shot 6 immigrants. So why won’t Italy’s political parties condemn xenophobia?’, February 9, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/02/09/an-italian-neo-fascist-shot-6-migrants-how-does-this-play-into-the-upcoming-elections/?utm_term=.6b9df410ce54 (accessed 27/03/2018).

5 Virchow, F. (2017) ‘Pegida: Germany’s anti-Islamic street movement’, Oxford Research Group, January 16, 2017, https://sustainablesecurity.org/2017/01/16/pegida-germanys-anti-islamic-street-movement/ (accessed 20/03/2018).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pietro Castelli Gattinara

Pietro Castelli Gattinara is Assistant Professor at the Centre for Research on Extremism, University of Oslo. His research focuses on comparative politics, the far right and migration in Europe. He is currently leading a comparative research project on far-right collective action during the refugee crisis. He recently published The Politics of Migration in Italy (Routledge, 2016), and his work appeared on international peer-reviewed journals including South European Societies and Politics and Comparative European Politics.

Andrea L. P. Pirro

Andrea L. P. Pirro is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Political and Social Sciences, Scuola Normale Superiore, and research affiliate at the Centre on Social Movement Studies (COSMOS). He is joint convenor of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) Standing Group on Extremism & Democracy. His work appeared in different international peer-reviewed journals as well as a number of edited volumes. He has authored the monograph The Populist Radical Right in Central and Eastern Europe: Ideology, Impact, and Electoral Performance (Routledge, 2015) and edited three special issues.