Violent Extremism and Authoritarianism: Which Relation with Social Movements?

The recent rise of authoritarianism highlights different kind of grassroots radical activisms intertwining with authoritarianism at various levels. Radicalism in right-wing and left-wing movements, populism, racism, and xenophobia outline a wide range of extreme collective behaviours and radical collective organisations meaningful to display new trends and roles of radical social movements in contemporary society.

Not all grassroots radicals are the same. Not all radical protests and movements are related to an absolutism standpoint towards certain social categories, institutions, and laws. However, there is no single pathway to radicalization, or type of radical, nor radical activism is necessary linked to social movements organizations. Furthermore, it should be noted that the rise and diffusion of radical collective behaviors not always represents an increasing presence of social movements on the public scenario.

The panel welcomes papers which address the following main issues:

(1) conceptual and theoretical papers about the link between radicalism and authoritarianism collective action.

(2) methodological considerations about radical social movements empirical research;

(3) empirical studies in different settings, and comparative investigations in Western non-Western contexts.