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Extreme right and democracy in Europe after the Second World War

Extrême droite et démocratie en Europe après la Deuxième Guerre mondiale

Coexistences, contrasts, contradictions

Coexistences, contrastes, contradictions

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Published on Thursday, October 24, 2024

Abstract

It seems urgent to reflect on how democracies have responded to the presence of extreme right-wing movements, both in terms of political practices and rhetoric. Have democracies actively opposed the extreme right, or have they opted for strategies of containment and coexistence? Equally important is to examine the perspective of the extreme right: how has it interpreted and narrated the (supposed) coexistence with the democratic system? How has it dealt with the legacy of fascism and to what extent has it adapted to the culture of democracy?

Announcement

Argument

In recent years, the vitality of democracy has been increasingly questioned by the scientific community. While concerns over democracy’s fragility are not new, today’s tendency to frame democracy as being in “crisis” appears particularly pronounced. This is likely inspired by democracy’s perceived inability to effectively address current political, economic, and cultural challenges, with a consequent weakening of its popularity (Snyder 2018; Runciman 2018; Levitsky, Ziblatt 2019; Applebaum 2020). At the same time, numerous studies, following the line of earlier works published between the late 1980s and the early 2000s (von Beyme 1988 ; Ignazi 1994; Hainsworth 2000; Mayer 2002; Milza 2002), have documented the ongoing strength of extreme right-wing movements (Hermansson, Lawrence, Mulhall, Murdoch 2020;Strobl 2021; Pereyra Doval, Souroujon 2021). These studies, examining both the continuities and discontinuities between past and present extreme right groups, broaden the analysis, preventing the very category of extreme right from being reduced to that of ‘fascism’ (Camus, Lebourg 2015; Lebourg 2019;Bresciani 2021; Albanese 2023) and highlight the growing intersection between the extreme right and the conservative parties (Haegel 2012). Nevertheless, the central question remains: is it the weakness of democracy that emboldens the extreme right, or does the rise of the extreme right contribute to the erosion of democratic cultures? This conference aims to explore the complex interplay between these two phenomena.

It seems urgent to reflect on how democracies have responded to the presence of extreme right-wing movements, both in terms of political practices and rhetoric. Have democracies actively opposed the extreme right, or have they opted for strategies of containment and coexistence? Equally importantis to examine the perspective of the extreme right: how has it interpreted and narrated the (supposed) coexistence with the democratic system? How has it dealt with the legacy of fascism and to what extent has it adapted to the culture of democracy?  This conference will analyze the language and culture of the extreme right, paying special attention to its critiques of democracy, including its reaction of Enlightenment values and claims that democracy operates a double standard, tolerant in theory, but marginalizing and punishing the extreme right in practice. Giving historical depth to the extreme right’s relationship with democracy will allow for new insights into today’s public debates.

While much of the existing research on the relationship between the extreme right and democracy has focused on the inter-war period (Millington, Passmore 2015; Millington 2015), references to the post-1945 era remain vague (Mazower 1998; Mueller 2011). In many broad histories of post-World War II Europe, the foundation and the development of extreme right-wing formations are often overlooked (Judt 2005; Betts 2020; Conway 2020), only reappearing problematically in accounts of the 1980s onward. Also the question of whether democracies have chosen to be “militant” — actively opposing the extreme right — has attracted little historiographical interest, with the exception of Corduwener’s recent study (2017). At the same time, numerous works, many of them transnational or comparative, have offered a comprehensive overview of the post-1945 extreme right (Panvini 2009; Mammone 2015; Igounet 2014;Picco 2016; Tonietto 2019; Macklin 2020; Mulhall 2021). However, there is a need for deeper analysis of how the extreme right develops strategies, rhetoric, and potentially counter-narratives to strengthen its position within a democratic context. This international conference aims exactly to bridge these two areas of inquiry.

The proposals should focus on the period between the post-1945 years and the early 1990s – a time marked by the end of the Cold War and the re-emergence of extreme right-wing groups acrossmuch of Europe. Anyway, continuities with the interwar period should not be ignored. While the primary focus will be on Western Europe, contributions addressing Eastern Europe or other regions (such as the United States or Latin America) that have influenced the relationship between the extreme right and democracy in Europe during the 20th century are welcome.

The conference invites submissions from diverse disciplinary perspectives, including political and cultural history, political sciences, legal studies, and philosophy. The lines of research that the contributions should explore are the following:

  • the political and legal debate in the various European countries regarding strategies to limit, oppose, or coexist with the extreme right;
  • the cultural and political practices of associations, intellectuals, and political movements in fighting, containing, or denouncing extreme right phenomena;
  • the cultural and political strategies employed by the extreme right in dealing with democratic culture.

Submission of proposals

Proposals (400-500 words) should be submitted to the following address nextrightmsca@gmail.com

by 31 December 2024.

Please include also a short biography. Papers can be submitted in English or French, the languages of the conference. Selected candidates will be requested to submit a draft of their paper to the designated discussant by 15 May 2025.

Accommodation and meals during the conference will be provided by the organizing committee.

Scientific Committee

  • Marco Bresciani, Università di Firenze 
  • Florence Haegel, Sciences po
  • Valerie Igounet, CNRS
  • Laurent Joly, CNRS
  • Nicolas Lebourg, CEPEL-CNRS, Université de Monrpellier
  • Graham Macklin, C-Rex, Oslo
  • Andrea Martini, Ifg Lab-Paris 8
  • Marie-Anne Matard Bonucci, Ifg Lab-Paris 8
  • Nonna Mayer, sciences po
  • Guido Panvini, La Sapienza Roma.

Organizing Committee

Andrea Martini, Marie-Anne Matard-Bonucci, Elisa Pareo, Jonathan Preda and Suzy Toson.

This conference is part of the MSCA European Postdoctoral Fellowship, NEXT RIGHT (New Space forthe Extreme RIGHT. An Alternative History of Western Europe in the Early Phase of the Cold War).

Places

  • Campus Condorcet - Place du Front populaire
    Aubervilliers, France (93)

Event attendance modalities

Full on-site event


Date(s)

  • Tuesday, December 31, 2024

Keywords

  • extreme right-wing, democracy

Contact(s)

  • Elisa Pareo
    courriel : elisa [dot] pareo [at] univr [dot] it
  • Andrea Martini
    courriel : andrea [dot] martini [at] univ-paris8 [dot] fr

Information source

  • Elisa Pareo
    courriel : elisa [dot] pareo [at] univr [dot] it

License

CC0-1.0 This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.

To cite this announcement

« Extreme right and democracy in Europe after the Second World War », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Thursday, October 24, 2024, https://doi.org/10.58079/12k9g

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