Between violent and non-violent action strategies: a comparative study on the Italian and Spanish far-right in context.

Violent and non-violent action strategies can be seen as potential end points of a process of political radicalization/de-radicalization along which social movement organizations shape their behaviour. As any social process, however, it does not develop in a vacuum: social and political contextual factors, as well as meso-level organizational dynamics can account for this process. The aim of this paper is to offer a contribution to scientific research on the topic, that, especially regarding the dynamics of disengagement from violence is still scarce. In this study we shall apply the main theoretical accounts of the literature on political radicalization/de-radicalization to right-wing extremist movements. The first part of the paper is based on a review and discussion of the academic literature on the subject. In the second part some empirical evidences are provided focusing on Italian and Spanish extreme right organizations, an area of radicalization studies that, to date, has been little explored. Macro-level and meso-level hypotheses will be tested combining data from about 20 semi-structured interviews conducted with extreme right organization leaders in the two countries with data on right-wing mobilization derived from a protest event analysis on newspapers, This study will emphasize factors such as organizations’ attitudes towards the political and institutional environment, the (perceived) openness/closure of the political context, the availability of allies as well as meso-level factors such as group characteristics and internal dynamics. With its focus on group perceptions, attitudes, interaction dynamics and organizational factors this paper will hopefully contribute to add a small, valuable piece to the puzzle of radicalization/de-radicalization processes.