Social movement scholars often focus on the so called policing of protest as a crucial aspect of state responses to radical collective action as well as a key factor related to either a favourable or unfavourable political opportunity structure for movements development and mobilization. The various strategies of state repression and the introduction of legal constraints are indeed seen as particularly influential in the adoption of a more or less radical behaviour (and attitudes) on the part of these unconventional political actors. This reasoning stems from the conception of movements as polity-oriented challengers. However, can we apply the same logic on a movement made up of organizations that are not all equally interested in accessing the polity?
Drawing on semi-structured in-depth interviews with leading representatives of 24 right-wing radical organizations from Italy and Spain, this article explores the experience of political repression and social and media stigmatization through the point of view of its “protagonists”. Building a bridge between macro-level exogenous factors and the organizational level, and going beyond the exclusive party organizational variant, the main purpose is to show how the experience of repression and stigmatization by different types of right-wing organizations (ranging from political parties and nostalgic movements to skinhead groups) is mediated by specific organizational characteristics as well as by the interactions within the movement’s alliance and conflict system. As it emerges from the stories told by our interview partners the responses by the establishment to these radical actors are indeed differently perceived and elaborated depending on specific cultural codes and identity traits, but also on the basis of the strategic dilemmas faced by organizations torn between identity and legitimacy.
