The Cult of Violence: The Swedish Racist Counterculture

Lööw, Heléne

doi:10.1007/978-1-349-23034-1_5

Cited by 29 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Notably, Sprinzak (: 21) argues that extreme right ‘violence, and gradually terrorism, will only emerge when the group involved feels increasingly insecure or threatened [by their enemies]’. A number of other studies have also documented these types of confrontational mechanisms, which appear to be of a universal nature (Bjørgo : 211–235; Fangen : 54; Lööw ; Merkl : 111; Weinberg ). The most systematic exposition to date is provided by Della Porta in her recent book Clandestine Political Violence (Della Porta ), tracing causal mechanisms such as ‘escalating policing’ and ‘competitive escalation’ (within and between extremist groups) across different contexts and ideological spaces, including the extreme right.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 96%

Explaining right‐wing terrorism and violence in Western Europe: Grievances, opportunities and polarisation

Ravndal

2017

European J Political Res

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Why have some Western liberal democracies experienced more right-wing terrorism and violence (RTV) than others? This question remains largely unanswered in existing research on the extreme right because (1) events data suitable for cross-national comparisons have been lacking, and (2) existing analyses fail to capture RTV's causal complexity, which involve multiple causal paths (equifinality) comprising causal conditions that become sufficient for the outcome only in combination (conjunctural causation). To help fill these gaps, this paper uses new events data from the RTV dataset in a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) research design, aiming to explain variation in the extent of RTV in 18 West European countries between 1990 and 2015. In doing so, the paper identifies two "causal recipes" that consistently distinguish countries with extensive RTV experience from those with low or moderate RTV experience. The first (North European) recipe involves the combination of high immigration, low electoral support for anti-immigration (radical right) parties, and extensive public repression of radical right actors and opinions. The second (South European) recipe involves the combination of socio-economic hardship, authoritarian legacies, and extensive left-wing terrorism and militancy. Notably, both recipes contain elements of "grievances" and "opportunities", suggesting that these two theories, which are conventionally seen as contrasting, may be more fruitfully seen as complementary. Furthermore, a highly polarized conflict between far right activists and their enemies represents a third necessary condition for extensive RTV to occur. A key to combating violent extremism on the far right therefore lies in disrupting rather than accelerating such polarization mechanisms, suggesting that openness and dialogue might work better than public repression, stigmatization, or aggressive confrontation.

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Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 96%

Explaining right‐wing terrorism and violence in Western Europe: Grievances, opportunities and polarisation

Ravndal

2017

European J Political Res

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“…It is evident that many aspects of the ideology, language and practices of explicitly racist or extreme-right wing groupings are shared in common across Europe, and the United States (Bjorgø and Kaplan 1998). Lööw (1993), for example, interviewed members of the Swedish 'white power networks', and found that the rhetoric of these networks is a mixture of national socialist terminology of the 1930s and the contemporary code of the Ku Klux Klan and other American white supremacist groups. Themes identified by Lööw in Sweden -including a belief in 'ZOG -Zionist Occupational Government', denial of the holocaust, defence of the 'white race' against its 'enemies' (communists, homosexuals, Jews, immigrants and anti-racists) -appear to be common to similar organisations in other Scandinavian countries, Germany, the USA and Britain.…”

Section: Racist Offending: From Profiling To Explanationmentioning

confidence: 40%

Racist Victimization in England and Wales

Bowling

Phillips

2003

Violent Crime

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“…The concept of self-defense seems to be flexible though (cf. Lööw 1993). Among others, one local chapter commented on Facebook that "stopping the harmful immigration, multicultural hell and islamization is no longer possible by democratic means" (SOO Jyväskylä Support 7.4.2017).…”

Section: Values Language and Violencementioning

confidence: 99%