Peer-reviewed article
Different Types, Different Reactions? How Civil Society Organizations Respond to Right-Wing Extremism
2022Lundberg, E.Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations
What is this study about?
The study examines how different types of civil society organizations react when right-wing extremist actors establish themselves in their local community. Using Ludvika and the presence of the Nordic Resistance Movement as a case, it analyses which strategies organizations use and how their ways of responding to right-wing extremism differ. The study pays particular attention to the variation within civil society rather than treating it as a unified democratic actor.
What did we find?
The results show that civil society organizations respond to right-wing extremism in different ways. Some choose open protests and confrontation, while others emphasize dialogue, inclusion, education or other forms of engagement. The differences partly reflect the organizations' different characters and ways of working. The study thus shows that there is no single typical "civil society response" to right-wing extremism – different parts of civil society mobilize different repertoires of action when facing the same anti-democratic challenge.
Why does it matter?
Civil society is often assigned an important role in democracy's defence against anti-democratic movements. The study shows that this role needs to be understood in more nuanced terms. Civil society is not a unified actor, and organizations can contribute to resistance against extremism in different ways. Understanding this variation is important both for research on the democratic significance of civil society and for actors who want to support local organizations' opportunities to respond to extremism.
Citation
Lundberg, E. (2022) Different Types, Different Reactions? How Civil Society Organizations Respond to Right-Wing Extremism. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations 34 1002–1013
Research area
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