Democratising ‘Democratic Defence’? The Introduction of Civil Society in Preventive Programmes Against Right-Wing Radical Values

This article examines the role that civil society has endorsed in addressing political radicalism in liberal democracies. We will argue that the large introduction of civil society in the conception and the implementation of preventive programmes against right-wing radical values illustrates the democratisation of responses to political radicalism. In order to show that, two country-cases where political radicalism has been regulated differently will be compared: in France, political radicalism has mainly been regulated within the arena of politics, policy responses exist but are not numerous. In contrast, the German case is characterised by a regulation of political radicalism dominated by (until recently rather repressive) policies. However, we will show that non-governmental organisations have increasingly engaged in both cases in responding (sometimes in indirect ways) to right-wing radicalism or parts of it. Regarding democratic states, involving actors from civil society is a way to 1- diversify a policy that has historically been dominated by repressive measures; 2- legitimate public intervention against political ideologies that are considered threatening for the established political order. In sum, the introduction of new policy actors does not only illustrate the extension of the public intervention against political radicalism, but also the attempt to democratize the democratic defence in liberal contexts. This article is based on empirical data collected between 2014 and 2017. The constructivist approach chosen allows us to retrace the increasing role of citizens, their ideas, and their interests in the responses formulated against right-wing radical values.