Political Violence and Action Strategies: An Empirical Study on the extreme right organizations in Italy and Spain

Despite growing scientific interest in the subject, the empirical investigation regarding the strategic action choices related to the mobilization of right-wing organizations is still scarce, with most attention given to violence and few attempts to consider (and integrate for explanation) the context of both external (structural) and internal (organizational) factors that might affect them. In this article, focusing on different types of extreme-right organizations (political parties and non-party groups) in Italy and Spain, the emergence of violence by these groups as well as the use of other action strategies will be investigated. With a special emphasis on the actors’ perceptions of reality, macro-level reasons (the organizations’ attitudes towards the political and institutional environment, the closure/openness of the context, the availability of allies, etc.), as well as meso-level factors (the characteristics and dynamics of individual groups) will be tested. This will be achieved by combining qualitative and quantitative data from 20 semi-structured interviews with extreme-right leaders, with a protest event analysis of the most recent mobilization of extreme-right groups in the two countries (2005-09). The main differences and similarities between organizations and countries concerning right-wing mobilization specificities and the factors which influence them will be demonstrated.

Keywords: Extreme Right Organizations, Social movements, Spain and Italy, Semi-Structured Interviews, Protest Event Analysis.

Rossella Borri, Manuela Caiani, Violenza politica e strategie di azione: uno studio empirico sulle organizzazioni di estrema destra in Italia e Spagna in "PARTECIPAZIONE E CONFLITTO" 2/2012, pp 5-30, DOI: 10.3280/PACO2012-002001