Ensuring Security? State Responses to the Radical RIght in France, Germany and England
The idea of carrying out this research project arose during an internship at the Bundestag tackling the issue of responses given to right-wing radicalism. I noticed that Germany had a very specific approach to national security when it came to political radicalism. Indeed, a specific administration had been formed to investigate possible political extremists, an obligation which derives from the Constitution. On the other hand the French and British states do not seem to tackle the issue of right-wing radicalism in the same way. Their Constitution (or highest legal system in the case of Britain) does not impose the existence of a specific administration to watch over political extremism. Yet the best-provided state in terms of implemented tools to respond to political extremism - Germany - was subjected to a wave of right-wing politically motivated crimes.
After having studied the German case quite thoroughly for my master’s thesis I extended this project to other Western European states: France and England. It is my feeling that the field of state responses to the radical right has not been given the academic attention that it deserves yet, especially in France and Britain where literature covering this area is relatively scarce.
State responses are numerous and diverse: some of them tend to prevent the propagation of the ideology of the radical right. On the other hand a whole range of measures are rather repressive (banning associations or political parties from the radical right, surveillance, repression of hate speech…). The justice, the police and the intelligence service are institutions that are particularly active in the repression of persons acting against the law on grounds of their political views.
The centre of my research is focused on the analysis of the policy process leading to the delivery of state measures combatting the radical right. I am particularly interested in the dynamics that enable state actors to set on the agenda the issue of the radical right, and later on to implement the measures formulated. With this in mind I chose a neo-institutional perspective, paying a particular attention to administrative bodies and their actors.
The strong comparative dimension of this research will enable me to highlight the variables that explain the different responses brought to the radical right in the three countries. I identified three main variables: the political structures (federalism vs. centralism, interventionist state vs. minimalist state…), discursive opportunity structures (perception of the radical right, historic heritage…) and degree of violence used among the radical right wing movements in each country.
In the end this study should provide a better understanding of the political, historic and administrative dynamics having a major impact on the state strategies responding to the radical right.