‘Us v. Them’: the Strategic Use of Religion in Far-right Parties

The Defenders of Europe’s Christianity

Photo by Anna Hecker on Unsplash In Western Europe, increasingly fewer people are attending Church. Secularisation has been shaping Europe’s identity since the Enlightenment, creating a barrier between politics and religion. Nevertheless, this barrier has not always been crystal clear, not even nowadays, as religion is a rather popular topic in everyday political news. Radical right parties’ components have been invoking Christianity in their discourses, while hoping to attract voters. This use of religion in politics has been puzzling academic scholars. There is an ongoing academic debate concerning the appropriate terminology to refer to the far-right. While not all academics...
far-right observer

Social media versus reality: How representative is this tool in assessing far-right opinions?

Photo by Nick Markus on Unsplash.com An exciting new medium? Social media has been an exciting development for politics. Facebook and Twitter in particular have let academics gather large samples of data to shed light on discussions between far-right supporters. But how representative is this data? These sites are mostly used as a platform by devoted and extreme far-right followers. This means that we do not get a complete picture of the rest of the more moderate supporters. To add to this problem, it seems that up to a third of far-right social media followers end up not following suit...
Globalization,Posts

How Globalization Pushed Working-Class Voters Towards Far-Right Parties

The leader of the French National Rally Marine Le Pen in 2012 with workers of PSA, a car manufacturer. Credits: Simon Daval – Maxppp The rise of far-right parties increasingly came to the forefront in recent years due to the good electoral results of these parties in Europe. Lega Nord in Italy, the National Rally in France, or the Alternative for Germany on the other side of the Rhine are not merely anti-establishment and rebellious parties anymore but seek to exercise increasingly prominent political responsibilities. Thus, understanding and analysing this phenomenon, without settling for hasty moral judgments, appeared to me to be the appropriate intellectual response. I therefore decided, a few weeks...
Far-Right Narratives

How the Economic Crisis Came in Handy to CasaPound Italia

* Featured image from: https://www.casapounditalia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/IMMAGINE-2.png The rise of far-right parties in Europe is still a persistent phenomenon. In this regard, CasaPound Italia (CPI) is the perfect concrete example in Italian politics. This blog is relevant because it represents a useful insight into the neo-fascist ideology of the twenty-first century. CasaPound was created out of a social necessity in the early 2000s, and it was viewed as a solution to the economic crisis that was sweeping Italy at the time. Italy’s precarious position during the economic crisis represented fertile ground for CasaPound to spread its political ideals and the party's ideas....
Far-Right Narratives

Money, Money, Money – but Not for Migrants

Over the last decade Europe has witnessed a rise in support for far-right parties. The focus of this particular blog entry will be the economic narratives which far-right parties use to steer voters towards them. In particular this can be observed when looking back at Great Britain and the UK Independence Party (UKIP). What is the UK Independence Party? The UK Independence Party is a right wing party which was founded in September of 1993 and gained a lot of popularity between 2010 and 2016. In 2014 the spotlight was cast on them as they gained 27% of the popular...
Social Media and the Far Right

The Rethoric of the Far Right on Social Media

Header image: El Confidencial Golden Dawn, FVD, Vox, AfD. All of these parties have seen a rise in their voter base in the 2000. Parties which previously had no place in parliaments are now getting voted in by a sizable amount of the population. While there are various reasons as to why, one of the main causes is the rise of social media. However, speaking of the media is always such a broad terminology. There are different social media which use different means of communication. This blog will discuss two forms of communication. One being a more conventional form of...
Far Right in Time and Space

Populism as a better far-right description?

In most academic literature on the far-right, scholars argue that current political parties that are seen as far-right are populist, or have populist characteristics. However, is this a fair assessment, and what does it even mean to have populist characteristics? Populism in theory The characteristics of populism can be found in and derived from their policies. These characteristics have been described extensively by scholars such as Akkerman, Mudde, Zaslova, Kriesi and Pappas, to name a few. These characteristics can be broken down into four distinct points. 1) There are two distinct groups in society; the people and the elite. 2)...
Far-Right Narratives

The Anti-Feminist Narrative: Theory vs. Practice

"I believe we are the only party in Germany who is really fighting for women’s rights, because we point out we’re in danger of losing the freedoms and rights of women for which we’ve fought for centuries.” You might assume that this quote is from a left-leaning or progressive German party. In that case, you are mistaken. These words were spoken by Nicole Höchst, member of the German far-right party, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). Since one of characteristics of the far right is their anti-feminist narrative, this seems contradictory, does it not?  I believe the anti-feminist narrative is less well-understood than other...
Far Right in Time and Space

Today’s far right: Fascism 2.0?

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/2/3/far-right-europe-pandemic The increasing popularity of far-right parties in the European political arena fueled a debate among scholars on whether it is worth to draw a parallel between 20th century fascism and today’s far-right parties. Considering the growing importance of these parties, I believe it is interesting to check out the standpoints of different historians in the debate and try to understand which one is the most reasonable. Using the F word: is it a good idea? Certain actions or assertions from the main representatives of the far-right parties that dominate European and global, politics, can spark a déjà vu taking...
Social Media and the Far Right

Why are Conventional Parties weaker Online?

politicians on their phone during a quick break ©Alex Ellinghausen Social media is a big part of everyday life. People all over the world use it as a way of connection. Far-right ideology has found a great part in that. We recognize extremist ideology all over social media. Unlock your phone and check your instagram. It won't take you long to be confronted with far-right ideology. When looking at for example instagram, far-right parties usually have high numbers of followers and likes, significantly more than the conventional parties even though they might have more seats in the government. Social media...