Radicalization and the Discourse of Race and Religion: A comparative Analysis of Extreme Right in Italy and Germany

1
Radicalization and the Discourse of Race and
Religion A comparative Analysis of Extreme Right
in Italy and Germany

• Donatella della Porta
• Manuela Caiani
• Claudius Wagemann
• European University Institute
• Workshop Politicization Radicalization
• 25-27 July 2008
• VU University Amsterdam

2
The VETO Project

• VETO Violent Extremist Terrorist Organizations
  (START center of the University of Maryland-EUI,
  Florence)
• Main idea Radicalization of political activism
  (origins of political violence)
• Comparative case study The extreme right in
  Italy and Germany (later US)
• 3 Components frame analysis, network analysis,
  protest event analysis

3
Approaching Right-Wing Extremism

• Pathologies of behavior of activists
  (irrationality)
• Breakdown theories vs. resource mobilization
  approaches
• Cultural turn in social movement research
• Social mechanisms that intervene between
  macro-causes and macro-effects

4
Basic Assumptions

• Structural effects are mediated by the
  militants perception of the reality through
  which their political involvement develops.
• The use of violence can be understood only
  within the context of an individual's political
  career, during which collective identities are
  built and transformed through collective
  processes.
• In order to understand radical politics-as other
  forms of politics-it is therefore important to
  investigate individual and group understanding of
  the external reality, as well as their position
  in it.

5
Method triangulation strategy in VETO

• Three different analytical approaches frame
  analysis, network analysis, protest event
  analysis
• Three different sources for the frame analysis
• Quantitative and qualitative modules for each
  analytical approach

6

• Frame analysis cognitive mechanisms which are
  relevant in influencing organizational and
  individual behavior.
• Network analysis (inter-)organizational
  structural characteristics of the extreme right
  milieu.
• Protest event analysis broad repertoire of
  collective action undertaken by right-wing
  extremists over the last decade.

7
Extreme Right and Religion

• Recent radicalization of some political
  conflicts, up to the extreme forms of terrorism
• New attention to the role of religious cleavages
  in politics (and their escalation)
• Intensification of the Clash of Civilizations
  rhetoric

Main question How far extremist, especially
right-wing extremist forces deal with the new
focusing of the public discourse on the religious
dimension? Or, more explicitly, to which extent
are extreme right organizations in Italy and
Germany ready and willing to exploit the new
attention to religion by adapting their frames
and re-orienting their action repertoires?
8
Cases and Sources Frame analysis

• For each country 3 different types of extreme
  right organizations (a political party, a
  political movement, a sub-cultural skinhead
  group) and written documents
• Germany
• NPD newspaper
• Nationales Bündnis Dresden (NBD) online forum of
  discussion
• Comradeships Neu-Ulm and Hochfranken
  (Kameradschaften) websites
• Italy
• Forza Nuova newspaper
• Veneto Fronte Skinheads monthly magazine
• Camerata Virtuale on line forum of discussion
• Data collected 4000 statements, 2001-2006
• Categories for the Coding
• Issue field
• Subject actor
• Object actor
• Ally actor
• Action

9
Cases and Sources protest event analysis

• Sources
• German (Taz) and Italian newspapers ( La
  Repubblica), Search strings
• Data collected 645 protest events, 2000-2007
• Categories for the Coding
• Type of action
• Actor
• Participants (numbers)
• Wounded, arrested, denounced activists
• Targets of protest
• Object of protest
• Issue fields
• Counter events

10
Table 1 Broader issue fields treated in the
statements (percentage)
11
Focusing on Christianity Values and Law Order
(frames)
Table 2 Statements related to value issues
12
Focusing on Christianity Values and Law Order
(protest events)
Table 4 Protest events related to value issues
13

• homosexuals are the most frequently recurring
  target of extreme right actions in Italy, with a
  share of 12.6 of all covered events addressed
  against them.

14
Focusing on Islam Immigration and Security
Table 5 Statements (frames) and events related
to specific immigration issues
Statements
Protest events
15
Actors

• Muslims in frames In Germany, Muslims are
  mentioned only in 0.1 (n 2) of all statements
  coded. Foreigners (in general) are mentioned in
  2.8 of all statements.
• Muslims in protest events In Italy, actions
  directed against the immigrants (in general)
  account for 4.7 of all covered events. Among
  them, 2.6 of events are specifically against
  Muslims.

16
Focusing on the Jewish Religion History and
National Identity
Table 7 Statements (frames) and events related
to historical and identity issues
Statements
Protest events
17
Focusing on the Jewish Religion History and
National Identity
Table 8 Actors related to anti-Semitism

18

• The category religious minorities, represents
  the third most frequent target of extreme right
  actions in Italy, accounting for 7.7 of all
  codified events.
• Within this general category 6.2 of events
  refer to Jews, or to specific leading
  representatives of Jews, or to Israel.

19
Conclusions

• Religion per se does not seem to play much of a
  role in the discourses and actions of the extreme
  right as religion per se is rarely mentioned and
  acted upon, in both countries
• Frames and protest events are however linked to
  religious discourses in more complex ways.
• Country specificities
• Form of fundamentalist Catholicism propagated by
  extreme right groups in Italy
• Definition of a religious dimension in
  anti-Semitism in Germany

20
Conclusions

• Sociological processes activated around religion
  in politics religion as cultural or structural
  phenomenon?
• Usefulness of the frame analysis The use of
  concepts like (religious) ideology, appears as
  too broad to take into account the specific
  political adaptations of specific aspects of the
  broad and heterogeneous culture of each religion.
  
• Importance to look at the actions of protest
  They are at the same time the sites for
  expression of ideas, but also contribute to the
  reproduction of them. A structural approach to
  the religious revival has to focus on the
  organizational activation of the resources into
  actions.