Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ERRANT (Enquiring Radical Right Across Nations and Territories)
Reporting period: 2020-11-01 to 2022-10-31
Populist radical right (PRR) is probably the most studied political family in the history of political science and sociology. A vast body of literature provides important insights on the electoral and macro dynamics of their re-emergence in Europe. However, other relevant dimensions remain little explored. The first is activism. In a time of general decline of party engagement, PRR parties are still capable to attract large numbers of committed militants: a prerogative that remains largely ignored by research. Second, insofar scholars have mainly considered PRR parties as actors of (supra)national systems. Yet, they are also complex, multi-level organizations with a rooted institutional and social presence across territories. Third, the growth of PRR is accompanied by lacerating societal conflicts between incompatible visions of collective life: on the one side, the nativist/conservative paradigm of PRR’s; on the other, inclusionary/progressive stances. The project dealt with these ground-breaking issues, proposing an in-depth and comparative study of two leading actors of European PRR: Lega and Rassemblement National (RN). The research was organized in two qualitative case studies, aimed at contributing to the innovation of the debate in three ways. First of all, ERRANT observed the dynamics of territorial implantation of PRR in a paradigmatic space: two middle-sized, peripheral towns where Lega and RN have already accessed the mainstream (high electoral scores, local government, cultural legitimation). Secondly, the research shed light on the internal life of the parties, giving voice to the activist themselves. A third, highly innovative contribution was the analysis of the polarization between the parties’ social basis and civil progressive counter-movements, with a specific attention for ethnic and gender-based conflicts. Finally, the overall and public engagement’s ambition of the project was to contribute in building scientific bridges on societal frontiers of and conflicts.
ERRANT was articulated in two case studies with an identical design. 6 months of permanence in the two cities selected as case-studies. During my presence on the fields, following the ethnographic approach, I tried to obtain a thick description and a global vision of the two cities selected as case studies, by conducting participant observation of public and political local life. I collected interviews with party members (militants; local representatives; local leaders) and with the main civil society ‘s opponents, identified during my stay as the most active subjects in the countermobilization against the two local administrations.
This lengthy ethnographic immersion allowed me to shed light on the organisational forms of the two parties in the two contexts and their territorial anchorage. In addition, I was able to analyse the complex dynamics of interaction between central party levels and local ones. I also enucleated differences and similarities between the two forces in terms of organization, strategies, political culture. Interviews with militants and leaders made it possible to identify the ideological, value and cultural aspects that shape the partisan communities and their shared narratives, while also shedding light on internal tensions and conflicts. Particular attention was paid to the processes of gender cultures and practices.
A particularly innovative element of the project, important from the point of view of its public impact, consisted in the study of the socio-political polarisation between the two administrations and progressive actors of the two local civil societies. Through interviews with the most active members of these groups, it was possible to reconstruct the mechanisms of these conflictual processes, as well as the counterposition of values, visions and narratives narratives. This is of particular importance in a context of the overall growth of the PRR, but also of the social conflictuality linked to its progressive access to the mainstream.
The project enjoyed good dissemination and visibility within the scientific community, thanks to participation in international conferences and invited presentations at research centres and universities. Special attention was paid to public engagement, given the public relevance of the research topics. In particular, several initiatives were carried out with civil society actors active in contrasting discrimination (particularly ethnic and gender based), and promoting values of inclusion and equality. Special attention was also paid to dissemination in the world of youth, through presentations with youth associations and in schools.
This lengthy ethnographic immersion allowed me to shed light on the organisational forms of the two parties in the two contexts and their territorial anchorage. In addition, I was able to analyse the complex dynamics of interaction between central party levels and local ones. I also enucleated differences and similarities between the two forces in terms of organization, strategies, political culture. Interviews with militants and leaders made it possible to identify the ideological, value and cultural aspects that shape the partisan communities and their shared narratives, while also shedding light on internal tensions and conflicts. Particular attention was paid to the processes of gender cultures and practices.
A particularly innovative element of the project, important from the point of view of its public impact, consisted in the study of the socio-political polarisation between the two administrations and progressive actors of the two local civil societies. Through interviews with the most active members of these groups, it was possible to reconstruct the mechanisms of these conflictual processes, as well as the counterposition of values, visions and narratives narratives. This is of particular importance in a context of the overall growth of the PRR, but also of the social conflictuality linked to its progressive access to the mainstream.
The project enjoyed good dissemination and visibility within the scientific community, thanks to participation in international conferences and invited presentations at research centres and universities. Special attention was paid to public engagement, given the public relevance of the research topics. In particular, several initiatives were carried out with civil society actors active in contrasting discrimination (particularly ethnic and gender based), and promoting values of inclusion and equality. Special attention was also paid to dissemination in the world of youth, through presentations with youth associations and in schools.
The extensive fieldwork allowed the collection of a wealth of data, which in turn will enable a long life cycle for the project. In particular, two innovative dimensions will be the subject of further investigation. Firstly, the aforementioned process of increasing polarisation between PRR supporters and opponents among Western civil societies. A topic that is finding widespread interest in the scientific community, especially recently, given its impact on the social cohesion of contemporary democratic systems. Secondly, ethnographic work has made it possible to focus on a very important and at the same time overlooked dimension. This is spatiality in the study of PRR: I am referring both to the importance of studying PRR parties more at the territorial level, according to contextualization an greater importance, but also to the relevance of spaces, both symbolic and physical, in their rooting (physical borders and in group/out group symbolic boundaries; contended and contested spaces between PRR parties and countermobilization actors etc.). A final element of novelty and further development is methodological and epistemological. The rare existing qualitative studies of PRR’s usually focus on a single case; ERRANT, instead, combined immersion and comparison, thus inaugurating a new template for empirical qualitative research on PRR parties.