The Far Right as Social Movement: Theory, Practice and Empirical Evidence

Abstract

In recent years, literature on party politics has tended to connect with social movement studies, and scholars increasingly acknowledge that movements and grassroots organizations are part of the alliance and conflict structure in which political parties are embedded. While the literature suggests that the downward trend in party-movement relations among radical left organizations has been countered in recent years by a new wave of movement-parties across Latin America and Southern Europe, we still know very little about these dynamics in the radical right. From the theoretical point of view, social movements represent an essential element of far right politics in modern societies, and dynamic models developed by social movement scholars have been applied to explain far right parties’ success beyond current demand and supply explanations. Yet, the literature on relations between parties and movements is still at best sparse, and scholars have ignored that political parties may be linked to social movements not only as possible allies, but in more fundamental ways as well. Empirical research suggests that the far right family includes political parties geared towards elections and public offices, social movements or ‘networks of networks’ that aim to mobilise the public, and a conglomeration of groups within the far right subcultural environment. The dynamics explaining the interaction between these different actors, however, are still largely unexplored. Moreover, scholars have payed remarkably little attention to understanding how and when far right social movements choose to organize themselves in the form of parties in the first place. In terms of practices, although research on parties has been traditionally reluctant to focus on the relations between parties and society, there is increasing evidence that new, hybrid actors are active both inside and outside conventional polities, in electoral as well as protest arenas. In other words, some forms of protest have become part of the conventional repertoires of political parties interested in expanding the scope of their public interventions beyond the boundaries of electoral and institutional politics. Bridging concepts and theories developed across two separate subfields in the social and political sciences – social movements’ and political parties’ studies – this panel sets out to investigate mobilization cycles within the far right scene, assessing the organizational, strategic and identity transformations that from social movement spilled over into party politics, and vice versa. The panel therefore welcomes papers focusing on relations between parties and movements, and addressing the relevant issues of social movement effects as well as literature on party system changes. Under which circumstances can far right parties be considered as social movement organizations? What are the relationship between far right parties and movements? How have these relationship changed over time, in terms of issue preferences, framing and repertoires of action? Can social movements transform far right parties? And what are the effects of far right social movements on party systems? Moreover, the panel seeks to overcome, inasmuch as possible, the artificial gap between qualitative and quantitative approaches, hence encouraging mixed-method lines of enquiry. Comparative contributions and case studies are welcome.

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