Reaching Out to Close the Border: The Transnationalization of Anti-Immigration Movements in Europe

• Fangen, Katrine & Weisskircher, Manes Elias (2024). Reaching out beyond the national border? How far-right actors in Germany and Norway evaluate transnationalism. Nations and Nationalism. ISSN 1354-5078. doi: 10.1111/nana.13021. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Research has emphasised the importance of far-right trans-nationalism, in terms of both ideology and practice. Yet, theliterature lacks a comprehensive analysis of how far-rightactors themselves reflect their transnational practices(or lack thereof), such as party-level exchange, joint protestevents, or online communication. Drawing on original inter-view data from Germany and Norway, our research unveilsthat while far-right ‘nationalists’ generally endorse transna-tional activities, only a minority actively participates. Theinterviewees perceive transnational practices as opportuni-ties for strategic learning, showcasing of collective strength,and networking. Simultaneously, they express concernsabout being associated with extremists and gettingentangled in conflict-ridden areas. Theoretically, we discussthe role of ideology and everyday life as well as the impor-tance of only limited strategic incentives for understandingfar-right transnationalism. In doing so, we draw parallels toexperiences made by left-wing actors. Moreover, we under-line the potential of Granovetter's ‘strength of weak ties’for far-right diffusion.

• Fangen, Katrine (2024). The transnationalist nationalists: the joint curriculum of anti-immigration actors in Norway. Journal of Political Ideologies. ISSN 1356-9317. doi: 10.1080/13569317.2024.2358349. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article delves into the transnational ideational influences that shape the discourse and actions of actors who mobilize against migration to Norway. While anti-immigrant sentiments often revolve around the preservation of the nation-state, their inspirations frequently transcend national borders. Through interviews with a diverse array of Norwegian actors who mobilize against migration, from left-wing to right-wing, parliamentary to extraparliamentary, this study uncovers the multifaceted web of transnational influences. Two distinct streams emerge: one drawn from exemplary entities, such as policies and politicians in other countries, and the other from ‘enlightening’ sources, like alternative media and ‘intellectual entrepreneurs. These influences, while interconnected, cast different shades upon the anti-immigration worldview, some emanating from ‘alternative’ sources, while others from the mainstream. This research not only deepens our understanding of non-relational ideational diffusion but also illuminates the mainstreaming of nationalist ideologies. The article underscores the significance of critical events and organic intellectuals in shaping the cultural understanding of unconnected actors. By encompassing a broad spectrum of anti-immigration actors, this study uncovers common threads that unite seemingly disparate actors, offering insights into the shared dynamics of transnationalism.

• Dammen, Kristine Brastad & Fangen, Katrine (2024). ‘We are living in the time of a turning point’: exploring views on global entities in immigration–a comparative study of actors from different political leanings. Globalizations. ISSN 1474-7731. doi: 10.1080/14747731.2024.2353992. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In recent years, a series of global crises have triggered a heightened politicization of international policy efforts and a questioning of the role of global forums in the management of these crises. This article investigates the perspectives of diverse actors who mobilize against immigration to Norway, including actors from the mainstream right and left and from the far right and the far left, to analyse how they frame the impact of global political entities for migration. Based on an analysis of 27 interviews with politicians, social movement activists, and knowledge producers, we explore how radical actors employ anti-globalism frames to delegitimize refugee reception, whereas mainstream actors advocate for the regulation of migration by referencing global agreements. Ultimately, our study further nuances cleavage theory by examining how nationalism and populism intersect within the spectrum from moderate to radical viewpoints regarding the role of globalization in the realm of immigration.

• Kyriazi, Anna; Mendes, Mariana S.; Rone, Julia & Weisskircher, Manes Elias (2022). The Politics of Emigration in Europe: A Research Agenda*. Journal of Common Market Studies. ISSN 0021-9886. doi: 10.1111/jcms.13392.
• Hutter, Swen & Weisskircher, Manes Elias (2022). New Contentious Politics. Civil Society, Social Movements, and the Polarisation of German Politics. German Politics. ISSN 0964-4008. doi: 10.1080/09644008.2022.2044474.
• Weisskircher, Manes Elias (2022). Politik auf der Straße? Zum Forschungsstand zu sozialen Bewegungen, Protest und Zivilgesellschaft. Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft. ISSN 1865-2646. doi: 10.1007/s12286-022-00542-8. Full text in Research Archive
• Otteni, Cyrill & Weisskircher, Manes Elias (2022). AfD gegen die Grünen? Rechtspopulismus und klimapolitische Polarisierung in Deutschland. Forschungsjournal soziale Bewegungen (FJSB ). ISSN 2192-4848. 35(2), p. 317–335. doi: 10.1515/fjsb-2022-0022. Full text in Research Archive
• Weisskircher, Manes Elias; Hutter, Swen & Borbáth, Endre (2022). Protest and Electoral Breakthrough: Challenger Party-Movement Interactions in Germany. German Politics. ISSN 0964-4008. doi: 10.1080/09644008.2022.2044473.
• Bedock, Camille; Best, Volker; Otjes, Simon & Weisskircher, Manes Elias (2022). A policy like no other? The populist radical right challenge in the field of democracy reform. Party Politics. ISSN 1354-0688. doi: 10.1177/13540688221089126.
• Lewicki, Aleksandra (2022). East–west inequalities and the ambiguous racialisation of ‘Eastern Europeans’. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. ISSN 1369-183X. doi: 10.1080/1369183X.2022.2154910.
• Heinze, Anna-Sophie & Weisskircher, Manes Elias (2022). How Political Parties Respond to Pariah Street Protest: The Case of Anti-Corona Mobilisation in Germany. German Politics. ISSN 0964-4008. p. 1–22. doi: 10.1080/09644008.2022.2042518. Full text in Research Archive
• Fangen, Katrine (2022). Rasisme som renhetsideologi. In Døving, Cora Alexa (Eds.), Rasisme : Fenomenet, forskningen, erfaringene. Universitetsforlaget. ISSN 9788215063065. p. 287–306. Full text in Research Archive
• Fangen, Katrine & Lichtenberg, Lisanne (2021). Gender and family rhetoric on the German far right . Patterns of Prejudice. ISSN 0031-322X. 55(1), p. 71–93. doi: 10.1080/0031322X.2021.1898815. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Historically, the family and, more generally, gender policies have been a central issue in both nationalist and far-right rhetoric. This holds particularly for Germany, where the so-called male-breadwinner model and the rhetoric of Kinder, Kirche and Küche have a long tradition. At the same time, Germany’s national socialist past gives rhetoric around family as a continuation of the nation a particular negative association. In this article, we will review the family policies and views on gender roles, as well as the views on Muslims, of politicians from two German far-right parties and their youth organizations, as well as one German anti-immigrant social movement organization. Our data material consists of press releases, party programmes and social media posts. Our article adds to the growing literature on the importance of gender in nationalist and far-right policies in general, and in far-right argumentation against Islam in particular. Our specific contribution is a detailed focus on similarities and differences in various organizations of the German far right, as well as an analysis that draws on concepts such as femonationalism and similar perspectives, such as Rogers Brubaker’s notion of civilizationism.

• Erdal, Marta Bivand & Fangen, Katrine (2021). A state-centred conception of nationhood? Norwegian bureaucrats on the nation. Ethnicities. ISSN 1468-7968. doi: 10.1177/14687968211012567. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article engages critically with the idea of state-centred nationhood, including its promises and limitations, as a foundation for state strategies of forging unity in (migration-related) diversity within nations. As states across Europe grapple with the management of migration-related diversity in contexts of increasing polarization of public debate on nationhood, which conceptions of nationhood do they draw on? We build on data from Norway, including policy documents and parliamentary debates, and draw on ten interviews with eleven bureaucrats in senior positions. Our interviewees were tasked with different aspects of the state’s nation building work, such as immigration control, national minorities (including Sami populations), religious and life-stance communities, and the 200-year anniversary of the Constitution. When asking which conceptions of nationhood bureaucrats draw on, we acknowledge that someone is doing the state’s nation building work. We find that the bureaucrats draw on a range of conceptions of nationhood, where ethnic and civic, more open and more closed dimensions, are mobilized. However, we did not find a cohesive conception of a state-centred nationhood being promulgated. Instead, our interviewees expressed uncertainty about how and to what extent nationhood could or should be mobilized to forge unity among Norwegian citizens. We argue that future research should move beyond dichotomies such as ethnic/civic or elite/everyday nationhood to theorize the composite articulations of nationhood which emerge empirically. Who bureaucrats effectively see as the imagined community, we argue, remains central to understanding states nation-building efforts

• Heinze, Anna-Sophie & Weisskircher, Manes (2021). No strong leaders needed? Afd party organisation between collective leadership, internal democracy, and “movement‐party” strategy. Politics and Governance. ISSN 2183-2463. 9(4), p. 263–274. doi: 10.17645/pag.v9i4.4530. Full text in Research Archive
• Otteni, Cyrill & Weisskircher, Manes (2021). Global warming and polarization. Wind turbines and the electoral success of the greens and the populist radical right. European Journal of Political Research. ISSN 0304-4130. doi: 10.1111/1475-6765.12487. Full text in Research Archive
• Gattinara, Pietro Castelli & Froio, Caterina (2021). Italy: The Mainstream Right and its Allies, 1994–2018. In Bale, Tim & Kaltwasser, Cristobal Rovira (Ed.), Riding the Populist Wave: Europe's Mainstream Right in Crisis. Cambridge University Press. ISSN 978-1-316-51876-2. p. 170–192.
• Fangen, Katrine & Nilsen, Maria Reite (2020). Variations within the Norwegian Far Right: From neo-Nazism to anti-Islamism. Journal of Political Ideologies. ISSN 1356-9317. 26(3), p. 278–297. doi: 10.1080/13569317.2020.1796347. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Since 2011, we have witnessed both the worst terror attack ever on Norwegian soil as well as an attempted act of terror. Both actions were conducted by right-wing extremists, who were radicalized by inspiration from, but not actual participation in, far right anti-Islamist groups. Even though most of the current far right groups in Norway do not openly support violence they are not innocent, as the rhetoric they propagate has directly inspired such actions. In this article, we use social movement theory to understand interviews we conducted with leaders of two anti-Islamist groups and one neo-Nazi group, specifically to analyse their mobilizing ideas and proposed solutions to the problems they imagine, as well as whether they believe they have support in the general population. Further, we analyse how the actors’ views relate to broader discourses in society. As a background to our analysis, we refer to the larger landscape of far-right groups in Norway during past decades, as well as their equivalents in other European countries.

• Gattinara, Pietro Castelli & Zamponi, Lorenzo (2020). Uneven ground: The asymmetric competition between anti-refugee and solidarity movements in Italy. Politiche Sociali. ISSN 2284-2098. p. 267–290. doi: 10.7389/97989.
• Lewicki, Aleksandra & Shooman, Yasemin (2020). Building a New Nation: Anti-Muslim Racism in Post-Unification Germany. Journal of Contemporary European Studies. ISSN 1478-2804. 28(1), p. 30–42.
• Fangen, Katrine (2020). Gendered images of us and them in anti-Islamic Facebook groups. Politics, Religion & Ideology. ISSN 2156-7689. 21(4), p. 451–468. doi: 10.1080/21567689.2020.1851872. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Since the turn of the century, anti-Islamic sentiments have become increasingly present in public debate. Scholars conducting research on the far right have even warned that the extreme has become mainstream. A key aspect of this situation is the prominence of gender images in the construction of ‘us and them’ distinctions in arguments against Muslims and Islam. This article examines two anti-Islamic Facebook groups. The main arguments of participants in these groups are that Norwegian women are in need of protection from dangerous Muslim men, and that Muslim women are oppressed but there is no need to feel sorry for them as they have chosen this subordinate position themselves. Further, group members not only make use of the well-known stereotypes of dangerous Muslim men and Muslim women as victims, but do so in explicitly sexist language, so that it is difficult to see them as unequivocal proponents of gender equality. Humour, emotions and jargon contribute to building a group atmosphere of xenophobia. The article analyses the group discussions in the light of theories and concepts of ‘femonationalism’ and right-wing populism.

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• Jasper, James; Elliott-Negri, Luke; Jabola-Carolus, Isaac; Kagan, Marc; Mahlbacher, Jessica & Weisskircher, Manes Elias [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2022). Gains and Losses: How Protestors Win and Lose. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780197623251. 232 p.
• Fangen, Katrine (2022). En bok om nynazister. Universitetsforlaget. ISBN 9788215000824. 376 p.

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• Fangen, Katrine (2024). Anti-immigration attitudes in Europe.
• Dammen, Kristine Brastad & Fangen, Katrine (2024). Antiglobalistiske allianser? Klassekampen. ISSN 0805-3839. Show summary

  Ytre høyre og ytre venstre stemmer likt i spørsmål om globalt økonomisk samarbeid. Hvorfor finner de ikke sammen?

• Fangen, Katrine (2023). En grundig og tankevekkende bok om det radikale høyre. sosiologen.no.
• Fangen, Katrine (2023). Personvern, samtykkeskjema og deltakende observasjon. [Radio]. Antropodden.
• Fangen, Katrine (2023). Det hvite sinnet. [TV]. TV2.
• Fangen, Katrine (2023). Variation within the Norwegian Far right.
• Fangen, Katrine (2023). Workshop on methodological, ethical and technical training for online research on the far right.
• Fangen, Katrine (2023). Høyreekstremisme og islamofobi i Europa.
• Harpviken, Kristian Berg (2022). How Social Movements (Sometimes) Matter. Journal of Peace Research. ISSN 0022-3433.
• Weisskircher, Manes Elias (2022). The Importance of Being Eastern German. The Multiple Heartlands of Germany’s Far Right . In Centre for Baltic and East Eur, Södertörn University (Eds.), The Many Faces of the Far Right in the Post-Communist Space: A Comparative Study of Far-Right Movements and Identity in the Region . Södertörns Högskola.
• Císař, Ondřej & Weisskircher, Manes Elias (2022). Left-wing social movements between strong European identities and the challenges of transnational activism. The case of DiEM25 . In Blokker, Paul (Eds.), Imagining Europe. Transnational Contestation and Civic Populism . Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 978-3-030-81368-0.
• Fangen, Katrine (2022). Fra politiske ungdomsgrupper i Øst-Tyskland til innvandrere og innvandringskritikere i Norge. Samfunnsviteren. ISSN 0805-7206.
• Fangen, Katrine (2022). Kjønn og retorikk på ytre høyrefløy.
• Fardan, Christopher Rettedal & Fangen, Katrine (2022). En forsvarlig mediedekning av ekstreme gruppers demonstrasjoner. M24.
• Fangen, Katrine (2022). Kvalitativ metode.
• Fangen, Katrine (2022). Book review: Cynthia Miller-Idriss, Hate in the Homeland: The New Global Far Right. Young - Nordic Journal of Youth Research. ISSN 1103-3088. 30(3), p. 299–303. doi: 10.1177/11033088211041726.
• Fangen, Katrine (2022). Høyreekstremisme ut fra et kjønnsperspektiv.
• Fangen, Katrine (2021). Why did Muslims become the new enemy in Norway and in Europe? Forskersonen.no.
• Fangen, Katrine (2021). Demokratiets arr: Adornos foredrag om høyreradikalisme. sosiologen.no.
• Fangen, Katrine (2021). Bokanmeldelse av Cynthia Miller-Idriss: Hate in the Homeland. Norsk sosiologisk tidsskrift. ISSN 2535-2512. 5(3), p. 63–66. doi: 10.18261/issn.2535-2512-2021-03-05.
• Fangen, Katrine (2021). Kvinner står i front for europeisk høgrepopulisme. [Newspaper]. Framtida.
• Fangen, Katrine (2021). Why did Muslims become the new enemy in Europe? Right Now!.
• Fangen, Katrine (2021). Democracy’s Scars: Adorno’s Lecture on Right-Wing Radicalism. PRIO Blogs.
• Fangen, Katrine (2021). Anti-immigrant Actors – Transnational, Insular Nationalists, or rather Transborder Nationalists?
• Fangen, Katrine (2021). Kinder, Kirche, Küche: Gender and family rhetoric of the German far right. Right Now!.
• Fangen, Katrine (2021). Different actors in the anti-Islamic movement.
• Fangen, Katrine & Skjelsbæk, Inger (2020). Editorial to special issue on gender and the far right. Politics, Religion & Ideology. ISSN 2156-7689. 21(4), p. 411–415. doi: 10.1080/21567689.2020.1851866. Show summary

  Debates about, as well as changes in, gender norms and gender policies have great potential for political mobilization: they encircle social and political developments as movements towards societal stabilization—or its opposite, destabilization. Contested issues include abortion, family policy, whether women are by nature more suited for childcare than men, sex education in schools, teaching of gender studies at universities, views on sexual minorities (including homosexuals’ right to marry and to adopt children). Positions on these issues follow political dividing lines, with the far right at one end of the spectrum. At the same time as the global governance system is pushing for increased gender equality, there are powerful forces opposed to such a goal. Anti-feminist and anti-gender-equality sentiments mark new nationalist policies and rhetoric, as well as populist and extremist mobilization. Several scholars have argued that we are witnessing the rise of a new form of patriarchy and masculine norms and grievances, as well as the fear of a low of traditional values. Male resentment and victimhood among certain groups is heralded as one of many explanatory factors for much of the nationalist mobilization and political change observed in recent years: from the coming to power of Donald J. Trump in the USA, Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, to Brexit and illiberal democratic developments in Europe.

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