Consequences of state repression against radical nationalist social movements

The radical nationalist movement (more commonly referred to as the right-wing extremist movement) has since its origin undergone continuous strategical developments. In my PhD project, I wish to investigate how the movement adapts and strategically changes its behavior in reaction to repression applied by states (in the context of liberal democracies). In doing this, I need to relate to previous research on state-movement interaction. In this paper, I summarize results from the main strands of research on how state repression affects mobilization and action repertoires of social movements and point to existing research gaps and suggested ways forward. The focus lies foremost on institutional (rather than situational) repression. The theoretical starting point of the paper is the sociological field of social movement research, but findings from other relevant areas of research (such as extremism research and criminology) are also included.