The far-right AfD party has been trying to exploit Russian-Germans feelings of neglect, nostalgia, and fear. They’re experiencing some success. “We open the borders for migrants, but the doors to Germany are closed for ethnic Germans in crisis regions.” This critical statement on Germany’s recent immigration policy came from Waldemar Herdt, an MP for the Alternative für… Continue reading “The German AfD Makes Appeals To Russian-Germans”
We must not overlook the non-violent strategies serving the hostile ideologies of the far right. In 2018, the far right Lads Society (formerly United Patriots Front group) infiltrated the New South Wales Young Nationals, the youth wing of the National Party in Australia. Together with neo-Nazis in Antipodean Resistance, the new members were successful in… Continue reading “Infiltrating democracy: non-violent strategies serving violent ideologies”
In the modern radical right, there are several parallels between their Islamophobic and anti-Semitic narratives. Anti-Semitism in the West has a long and awful history stretching back centuries. However, although the wholesale anti-Semitic extremism and murderous excesses across Europe during the twelve years of Nazi rule in Germany in the 1930s and 40s may have… Continue reading “The Similarities In Far-Right Islamophobia And Anti-Semitism”
James F. Downes and Nicola Palma argue that Italian Five Star Movement’s (M5S) future as a governing party is uncertain. Drawing on data from the Chapel Hill Expert Survey (2014, 2017 and 2019 waves), they argue that M5S’s recent electoral decline post–2018 can be explained by a combination of factors, namely: (a) M5S’s ‘ideologically ambiguous’… Continue reading “Ideological Ambiguity, Issue Blurring & Party Dissent: The Electoral Decline of the Populist Italian Five Star Movement”
Locals in the Greek island of Lesbos went from being nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for welcoming refugees five years ago to hurling racist slurs today. On March 1st, a video made its appearance on the media. The location: the village of Thermi, in the Greek island of Lesbos. In the video, one can clearly observe… Continue reading “How Greece Went From Welcoming To Demonizing Refugees”
Center-right parties recognized the 2008 economic crisis as a time of greater voter volatility when the populist radical right sought to secure more support through appeals over immigration. The 2008 economic crisis hit a number of European Union countries like a storm, with widespread patterns of electoral volatility and bad news for governing parties on… Continue reading “What Drives the Center Right’s Electoral Success?”
Demographic conspiracies should not be seen as fringe enterprises restricted to gullible extremists – they have an increasingly mainstream appeal. Enoch Powell’s 1968 ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech has infamously seared itself into the British public’s mind for its apocalyptic hyperbole and guttural prejudice but less so for its conspiratorial nature. Powell warned of the demographic… Continue reading “The great replacement theory: a historical perspective”
Right-wing white nationalists are co-opting the language used by left-wing anti-corporate activists in order to expand their racist movement. ‘Corporate America doesn’t need to be destroyed, but just shown that they are on the wrong side of history. That if they don’t bend, they will break.’ These are the alleged words of the shooter in… Continue reading “The Radical Right Seeks To Recruit Among Anti-Corporate Activists”
The Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has recently announced his resignation after 14 months of the so-called Government of change. This political crisis offers us the opportunity to turn our attention towards the parties forming ‘the first populist government of Western Europe’ – the Five Star Movement (5SM) and the (Northern) League (NL) – and,… Continue reading “Populism in Power: The Italian Case”
To prevent such developments, mainstream parties need to shape political discourse, instead of being shaped by it. In August 2017, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-leader Alexander Gauland proposed to ‘dispatch’ the then Federal Commissioner for Immigration, Refugees and Integration, Aydan Özoğuz (SPD), back to Anatolia. Some weeks later, the AfD party entered the German… Continue reading “Merkel’s dilemma: Germany’s polarising ‘Turkish issue’ returns”