Monitoring Right-Wing Extremism (RWE)

Discourse, Protest, Violence

discourses frame issues, providing basis for connection and mobilisation of collective action

protest is a prominent method of attempting to set political agendas and advance (movement) goals

violence is a common outgrowth of extremist discourse and collective action—presenting a challenge to societies and a public policy concern for state actors

Complications of monitoring RWE

  • fuzzy boundaries of ‘extremism’
  • different degrees of activity in different contexts—but also different national reporting and monitoring standards
    • e.g., RTV difficulty tracking violence beyond Western Europe; OSCE hate crime monitoring
  • sensitivities about historical memory issues, involvement/complicity of political parties, timing of monitoring and public communication thereof

RWE Discourse

  • large overlap between different ‘far-right’ discources (Ahmed and Pisoiu 2021)
    • broadly, RW ‘extremism’ rejects democratic principles

intensifying expressions of grievances online predict participation in offline violence (Bailard et al. 2024)

Common topics across contexts

  • constantly shifting, but in recent years frequently:

climate, COVID-19, EU, gender, migration, terrorism, Ukraine

Proportion of Facebook posts about these topics by RWE groups from these countries (2021-2024)

Gender in focus (Tronina 2026)

  • common discourses can drive activism in different contexts

  • transnational set of SMOs campaigning against ‘gender’, for example:

    • framing it in opposition to ‘family’
    • likening gender and LGBT to ‘profanity’ and ‘propaganda’
  • investigating this activity through Twitter/X accounts of SMOs in Croatia (9), Germany (26), France (41), Italy (43), and Poland (29)

Gender in focus (Tronina 2026)

Most Transnationally Connective Hashtags Per Year

Gender in focus (Tronina 2026)

Most Transnationally Connective Hashtags Per Year

Dissemination - getting the word out

Gender in focus (Tronina 2026)

Most Transnationally Connective Hashtags Per Year

Dissemination - getting the word out

Gender in focus (Tronina 2026)

Most Transnationally Connective Hashtags Per Year

Mobilisation

Gender in focus (Tronina 2026)

Most Transnationally Connective Hashtags Per Year

Extension - connecting to other issues

RWE news ecology (Heft et al. 2021)

  • ‘alternative news’ sites/channels spread RWE discourses

  • Heft et al. (2021) look at hyperlinks shared by right-wing online news sites (in Austria, Germany, United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden) in 2018

RWE news ecology (Heft et al. 2021)

  • ‘alternative news’ sites/channels spread RWE discourses

  • degree of transnational linkages differ by context

  • DE: some orgs. focus mostly domestically; others mostly internationally

  • SE, US: most orgs., mostly domestically

  • UK, AT, DK: most orgs., mostly internationally

RWE protest mottos (DE)

discourses connect to offline activity: slogans of German RWE protests, some (randomly selected) examples:

„Familien schützen! Homo-Propaganda stoppen!“

“Protect families! Stop gay propaganda!”

Thüringer Heldengedenken

Thuringian heroic commemoration

„Genug ist genug! Stoppt die Überfremdung der Heimat“ (Berlin)

“Enough is enough! Stop the foreign infiltration of the homeland” (Berlin)

Für Meinungsfreiheit – gegen staatliche Zensur

For freedom of expression – against state censorship

Nationale Souveränität erhalten – Deutschland raus aus der EU

Maintain national sovereignty – Germany out of the EU

„Mein Körper gehört mir, schützt endlich unsere Kinder und Alten“

“My body belongs to me, finally protects our children and the elderly”

RWE protest mottos (DE)

discourses connect to offline activity, here: the most frequent words in German RWE protest slogans

all terms

RWE protest mottos (DE)

discourses connect to offline activity, here: the most frequent words in German RWE protest slogans

National identity

RWE protest mottos (DE)

discourses connect to offline activity, here: the most frequent words in German RWE protest slogans

Aspirations and community

RWE protest mottos (DE)

discourses connect to offline activity, here: the most frequent words in German RWE protest slogans

Anti-migration

RWE protest mottos (DE)

  • nodes: RWE demonstration categories as tracked by German governments
  • edges: indicate strength of similarity of terms in demo. groups’ ‘motto’ texts

RWE Protest

  • several projects track RWE protest activity
    • some comparative: Poldem; ACLED; myriad country-specific projects

RWE Protest - overview

PolDem - xenophobic protests 2000-2015

RWE Protest - overview

PolDem - xeno. protests 2000-2015, party participation

RWE Protest - overview

PolDem - xenophobic protests 2000-2015

RWE protest (Germany, Italy, UK)

Italy
UK
Germany

RWE protest (Germany, 2005-2024)

responses to inquiries in Bundestag, e.g.: first half 2026

RWE protest (Italy, 2008-2018)

Gattinara’s Far-Right Protest Observatory: https://farpo.eu/dataset/expanded-cfp-dataset/

RWE protest (UK, 2009-2019)

Dafnos’s FRGB data: https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/28775/

RWE Violence

  • State responses against RWE violence sometimes less intensive than other political violence (Da Silva et al. 2022)

RWE Violence - hate crimes

OSCE hate crime monitoring

RWE Violence - hate crimes

OSCE hate crime monitoring

RWE Violence - hate crimes

OSCE hate crime monitoring

RWE Violence - killings

RTV dataset of RWE violence in Western Europe

RWE Violence - killings

RWE homicides in Germany

Recognised by BRD vs. identified by Amadeu Antonio Stiftung

RWE homicides in Germany

o: officially recognised by BRD
o: identified by Amadeu Antonio Stiftung
Recognised by BRD vs. identified by Amadeu Antonio Stiftung

Problems of RWE in the round

Problems of RWE in the round

  • monitoring
    • constantly shifting standards of what qualifies as RWE
      • over time, in different contexts, by different actors
    • continued adaptive evasion by RWE actors (encrypted messengers, crypto currencies, dark web)
  • responses
    • hindrance transnational cooperation: a national, not a transnational problem?
    • blockage by far-right party actors
    • nevertheless, steps taken at supranational levels (EU, hash-sharing database, Christchurch Call)

References

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Bailard, Catie Snow, Rebekah Tromble, Wei Zhong, Federico Bianchi, Pedram Hosseini, and David Broniatowski. 2024. “‘Keep Your Heads Held High Boys!’: Examining the Relationship Between the Proud Boys’ Online Discourse and Offline Activities.” American Political Science Review 118 (4): 2054–71. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055423001478.
Bjørgo, Tore, and Jacob Aasland Ravndal. 2020. “Why the Nordic Resistance Movement Restrains Its Use of Violence.” Perspectives on Terrorism 14 (6): 37–48.
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Da Silva, Raquel, João Paulo Ventura, Cátia Moreira De Carvalho, and Mariana Reis Barbosa. 2022. “‘From Street Soldiers to Political Soldiers’: Assessing How Extreme Right Violence Has Been Criminalised in Portugal.” Critical Studies on Terrorism 15 (1): 102–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2022.2031134.
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