Extreme Right Activists in Europe Through the magnifying glass

Since the eighties, one of the main political changes in Western Europe has been the electoral upsurge of extreme right-wing parties such as the French FN, the Flemish Vlaams Blok, the Austrian FPO, or the Italian Alleanza nazionale. However, while the electoral support of these movements has been studied extensively, their membership has largely been ignored. Through the Magnifying Glass: The World of Extreme Right Activists redresses this imbalance by examining "extreme right wing activists" and asking:
Who are they?
Why do they join?
Why do they stay?
How similar or how different are they from one country to another?
Countries examined by this book include Italy, France, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. Drawing upon extensive research and featuring contributions from distinguished and world renowned social psychologists and political scientists, this book provides the most detailed comparative study yet published of the psychology of right-wing extremist activists. This book is essential reading for students and academics with interests in right wing extremism, social movements and European politics.

Since the 1980s, one of the main political changes in Western Europe has been the electoral upsurge of extreme right-wing parties. However, while the electoral support of these movements has been studied extensively, their membership has largely been ignored. This book examines who joins the extreme right and why?Drawing upon extensive research and featuring contributions from distinguished social psychologists and political scientists, this book provides the most detailed comparative study yet published of the psychology of right-wing extremist activists. Countries discussed include Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and France.

Contents Preface Bert Klandermans and Nonna Mayer Chapter 1: Right-wing Extremism as a Social Movement Bert Klandermans and Nonna Mayer Chapter 2: Links with the Past Bert Klandermans and Nonna Mayer Chapter 3: Context, Alliances and Conflict Bert Klandermans and Nonna Mayer Chapter 4: Political Demand and Supply Bert Klandermans and Nonna Mayer Chapter 5: Writing Life Histories: Interviewing Extreme Right-wing Activists Team-members Chapter 6: Italy: The Offspring of Fascism Patrizia Milesi, Antonello Chirumbolo, and Patrizia Catellani Chapter 7: France: a Two Centuries Old Galaxy Valérie Lafont Chapter 8: Extreme Right-wing Activism in the Flemish Part of Belgium: Manifestation of Racism or Nationalism? Hans De Witte Chapter 9: ‘Doing it for Germany’: A Study of Die Republikaner and Junge Freiheit Ludger Klein and Bernd Simon Chapter 10: The Netherlands: Stigmatized Outsiders Bert Klandermans and Annette Linden Chapter 11: One Root, Different Branches: Identity, Injustice, and Schism Patrizia Catellani, Patrizia Milesi, and Alberto Crescentini Chapter 12: Identity in German Right-Wing Extremism: Levels, Functions, and Processes Ludger Klein and Bernd Simon Chapter 13: DO Right and Left-wing Extremists HAVE Anything in Common? Antonio Chirumbolo, Nonna Mayer and Hans De Witte Chapter 14: Through the Magnifying Glass: The World of Extreme Right Activists Bert Klandermans and Nonna Mayer Bibliography Appendix I: Samples Appendix II: Interview Scheme Appendix III: Code Book List of Tables, Graphs and Figures Figure 9.1 Left-Right-Scale: Self-placement with regard to political orientation Figure 11.1 Levels of political identity and their salience in extreme right-wing activists’ discourse as a function of party size. Figure 12.1 A Typography of Right-Wing Extremist Collective Identity: The Case of the German Republikaner Graph 13.1 Graph 13.2 Graph 13.3 Graph 13.4 Graph 13.5 Graph 13.6 Table 1.1 Party and voters scores on 10 point left-right scale in 1994 Table 4.1 Electoral and organizational strength of RWE parties Table 5.1 Interview scheme Table 5.2 Codebook Summary Table 7.1 Joining the FN and the MNR (in per cent) Table 9.1 Factors promoting the accessibility of national frames Table 13.1 Scores on authoritarian ethnocentrism scale by location on left right scale Table 13.2 Attitudes towards authority and power by location on left right scale Table 13.3 Levels of authoritarianism among left (LWE) and rightwing (RWE) extremists Table 13.4 Scores of LWE and RWE on scales of anti-system and anti-parliamentary attitudes Table 13.5 Law and order and need for a strong and powerful leader among LWE and RWE Table 13.6 Scores of LWE and RWE on scales of anti-immigration and racist attitudes Table 13.7 Scores of LWE and RWE on scales of nationalism and cultural pluralism Table 13.8 Scores [of LWE and RWE?] on economic attitudes scales Table 13.9 Scores of LWE and RWE on Social Value Inventory Table 13.10 Motives for membership of LWE and RWE Table 13.11 Scores of LWE and RWE on seven attitude scales Table 13.12 Scores of LWE and RWE on four value orientations

Bert Klandermans