Periodic Reporting for period 1 - AWAKE (The Making and Awaking of the European Far Right: A Qualitative Analysis of Far Right Supporters In Denmark and Poland)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2020-09-01 al 2022-08-31
The 21st century brought the resurgence of political movements that reject individual and social equality, vilify the “other” and rely on ethno-nationalist rhetoric. AWAKE extends contemporary research on the growing support of such far right parties and movements. While the bulk of existing scholarship relies on either examining the rhetoric and strategies of far right parties or the socio-economic contexts that accompany their electoral success, AWAKE’s findings are grounded in in-depth interviews with 60-80 participants, inductive discourse analysis of participants’ political life histories and a comparison of voters in two distinct European contexts. Through this approach, this project aimed to answer two questions. First, it asked, whether the European far right experiencing a making (by changing views) and awakening (into electoral or social action in line with previously-held views) of far right supporters? Second, it aimed to inform and expand current debates on contemporary far right movements by examining how individuals’ views, cultural frameworks and life stories fit into consequentially distinct, Western European (Denmark) and Central-Eastern European (Poland) socio-economic and political contexts.
To achieve the project’s objectives, the following steps were taken: (1) Ethics protocol review and necessary project adjustments to ensure ethical compliance; (2) recruitment of participants, which resulted in (3) 63 completed interviews (37 in Poland, 26 in Denmark), (4) interview transcription and (5) inductive discourse analysis of the completed interviews.
Results of the analysis were disseminated through a variety of approaches, aimed both at the academic and public audience.
First, the project led to the production of two articles, which have already been submitted for academic dissemination. The first article, which has been accepted for at European Commission’s Open Research Europe, explores belief in conspiracy theories, which are frequently used to shape far right narratives and stir support for far right movements and parties. In this article, I argue that a categorical approach of conspiracy theory belief is more fruitful for understanding how distinct types of conspiracy theory supporters come to embrace—and potentially reject—conspiracy theories. Drawing on AWAKE’s in-depth interviews, the article constructs a typology of conspiracy theory supporters that is rooted in consequential differences in how they approach conspiracy theories. To demonstrate the analytic relevance of the three categories of conspiratorial belief, the findings include an assessment of conspiracy believers’ patterns of media consumption. Lastly, by highlighting significant differences in media consumption of distinct types of conspiratorial supporters, the article argues for targeted strategies for countering conspiratorial belief and mitigating its negative social and political consequences.
The second article (currently under review), examines support for climate change politics, variation in which is strongly connected to political affiliation in the global north. While popular debates often focus on resistance to climate change as stemming from climate change denial and political polarization, this article takes a different approach to focus on variation in support for climate action amongst climate change believers. Drawing on AWAKE’s in-depth interviews with voters from diverse political backgrounds, it examines differences between “firm” supporters who back climate change actions despite considerable economic and social costs, and “hesitant” supporters resist initiatives that come with a “too heavy” social or economic burden. The article finds that internal frames of climate change—specifically, the perception of climate change as a crisis—are crucial to understanding variation in support for climate change initiatives. While these findings are in line with recent literature that highlights the importance of emotions in shaping climate change attitudes, they questions the extent to which specific emotions, such as anxiety, urgency and fear always lead to the demotivation of climate change action. Lastly, this article touches upon the question of political affiliation and climate change belief. Specifically, while it buttresses previous research on the correlation between political affiliation and support for climate change initiatives, it shows that the adoption of internal frames that equate climate change with a global crisis by individuals can lead to a transformation of their political beliefs and a realignment of their vote to match their increasing concern for climate change politics.
A third article, which is currently in progress, addresses AWAKE’s key objective of understanding variation in far right support in two distinct political contexts. Through a comparison of in-depth interviews with participants in Poland and Denmark, it finds that socio-political context is fundemental for shaping why and when individuals support far right and right-wing populist parties. Specifically, it finds that while a multi-party political landscape promotes the awakening of single-issue far right supporters, a political landscape with only a few main parties promotes the creation of multi-dimensional far-right supporters who, while rejecting more extremist ideals and ideologies may nonetheless support right-wing populist and far-right parties for their stances on non-cultural (e.g. immigration, religion) issues and less-polarizing political issues such as economic development.
Alongside academic publications, project results have been disseminated through guest lectures for MA students at the University of Copenhagen, participation in in-person and on-line workshops and events, and through participation in four academic conferences.
The researcher also undertook various training activities during project. In particular, by working with her supervisor, the researcher acquired new fields of expertise (e.g. far-right and right-wing populist movements, climate change activism and politics, conspiracy theories). Moreover, while at Copenhagen University, she received instruction in Danish.
Results of the analysis were disseminated through a variety of approaches, aimed both at the academic and public audience.
First, the project led to the production of two articles, which have already been submitted for academic dissemination. The first article, which has been accepted for at European Commission’s Open Research Europe, explores belief in conspiracy theories, which are frequently used to shape far right narratives and stir support for far right movements and parties. In this article, I argue that a categorical approach of conspiracy theory belief is more fruitful for understanding how distinct types of conspiracy theory supporters come to embrace—and potentially reject—conspiracy theories. Drawing on AWAKE’s in-depth interviews, the article constructs a typology of conspiracy theory supporters that is rooted in consequential differences in how they approach conspiracy theories. To demonstrate the analytic relevance of the three categories of conspiratorial belief, the findings include an assessment of conspiracy believers’ patterns of media consumption. Lastly, by highlighting significant differences in media consumption of distinct types of conspiratorial supporters, the article argues for targeted strategies for countering conspiratorial belief and mitigating its negative social and political consequences.
The second article (currently under review), examines support for climate change politics, variation in which is strongly connected to political affiliation in the global north. While popular debates often focus on resistance to climate change as stemming from climate change denial and political polarization, this article takes a different approach to focus on variation in support for climate action amongst climate change believers. Drawing on AWAKE’s in-depth interviews with voters from diverse political backgrounds, it examines differences between “firm” supporters who back climate change actions despite considerable economic and social costs, and “hesitant” supporters resist initiatives that come with a “too heavy” social or economic burden. The article finds that internal frames of climate change—specifically, the perception of climate change as a crisis—are crucial to understanding variation in support for climate change initiatives. While these findings are in line with recent literature that highlights the importance of emotions in shaping climate change attitudes, they questions the extent to which specific emotions, such as anxiety, urgency and fear always lead to the demotivation of climate change action. Lastly, this article touches upon the question of political affiliation and climate change belief. Specifically, while it buttresses previous research on the correlation between political affiliation and support for climate change initiatives, it shows that the adoption of internal frames that equate climate change with a global crisis by individuals can lead to a transformation of their political beliefs and a realignment of their vote to match their increasing concern for climate change politics.
A third article, which is currently in progress, addresses AWAKE’s key objective of understanding variation in far right support in two distinct political contexts. Through a comparison of in-depth interviews with participants in Poland and Denmark, it finds that socio-political context is fundemental for shaping why and when individuals support far right and right-wing populist parties. Specifically, it finds that while a multi-party political landscape promotes the awakening of single-issue far right supporters, a political landscape with only a few main parties promotes the creation of multi-dimensional far-right supporters who, while rejecting more extremist ideals and ideologies may nonetheless support right-wing populist and far-right parties for their stances on non-cultural (e.g. immigration, religion) issues and less-polarizing political issues such as economic development.
Alongside academic publications, project results have been disseminated through guest lectures for MA students at the University of Copenhagen, participation in in-person and on-line workshops and events, and through participation in four academic conferences.
The researcher also undertook various training activities during project. In particular, by working with her supervisor, the researcher acquired new fields of expertise (e.g. far-right and right-wing populist movements, climate change activism and politics, conspiracy theories). Moreover, while at Copenhagen University, she received instruction in Danish.
The research that was disseminated at various academic workshops and conferences throughout the duration of AWAKE has extended contemporary knowledge on far-right support, belief in conspiracy theories, variation in media consumption by distinct types of conspiracy theory supporters, distinctions in climate change support, diversity in education, and elite influence in shaping civil society. In particular, the project’s research on climate change supporters, which argues for the importance of understanding firm support for climate change initiatives despite their potential economic costs, both calls for more work to be done to understand distinctions in achieving active and firm (versus hesitant) support for climate change actions and it argues for the importance of framing climate change as a global crisis for achieving such significant support.
The project’s activities were helpful in enhancing the researcher's future career prospects. Due to personal reasons, the researcher has chosen not to pursue a career in academia. However, the skills that were acquired during this project (e.g. Danish C1 level proficiency, improved managerial/project management, public speaking and mentoring skills) have enabled the researcher to pivot to the private sector.
The project’s activities were helpful in enhancing the researcher's future career prospects. Due to personal reasons, the researcher has chosen not to pursue a career in academia. However, the skills that were acquired during this project (e.g. Danish C1 level proficiency, improved managerial/project management, public speaking and mentoring skills) have enabled the researcher to pivot to the private sector.