Protest mobilisation in far-right politics

Abstract

This panel brings together scholars working on protest dynamics of the far right in Europe and beyond. The aim is to take stock of current developments and present ongoing research on the demonstrative, confrontational, or violent protests involving collective actors with an ideological commitment to nativism. While grassroots protests involving extremist street groups and loosely organised networks of activists have been making headlines since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, events such as the storming of the US Capitol by Trump supporters show that the electoral and protest arenas are becoming increasingly intertwined in far-right politics. Specifically, the panel seeks to include the following: 1) studies rooted in the field of social movements that set out to uncover the macro-, meso-, and micro-level drivers of extra-parliamentary mobilisation by the far right; 2) empirical research addressing the intersection between dynamics of protest and electoral politics on the far right; and 3) studies looking at networks of protest mobilisation online and offline. The panel seeks to answer the following questions empirically: What drives far-right protest mobilisation? How can we make sense of extra-parliamentary political participation? How do far-right collective actors integrate campaign strategies addressing dissatisfied citizens and street action consolidating its rooting in society? We encourage submissions combining a diverse geographical and methodological focus, that try to combine different sub-disciplines and theoretical persuasions, and strike a balance between case studies and comparative contributions.

Title	Details
When the far-right makes the news: protest characteristics and media coverage of far-right mobilization in Europe	View Paper Details
To join or not to join: An analysis of individuals’ motivations for joining (or not) radical right groups	View Paper Details
Opportunities for Far-Right Protest in Ukraine	View Paper Details
Explaining diverse far-right strategies: The interpretation of multi-level discursive opportunities during the “refugee crisis”	View Paper Details