Hear Manuela Caiani, Associate Professor in Political Science at the Scuola Normale Superiore discuss how far-right political movements and ideas are spreading internationally.
The transnationalisation of illiberal parties and social movements is increasingly evident in Europe. Not only do they develop transnational networks; their ideas are also spreading across borders thanks to the internet and social media platforms.
Anti-immigrant and anti-gender actors, as well as actors mobilising in relation to various crises, in particular the Covid-19 pandemic, now convene at events internationally, which supports the diffusion of frames and strategies and contributes to international learning among these actors.
While the literature on the various types of illiberal actors and their transnationalisation has been growing, research so far has tended to specialise in specific sub-sectors of the illiberal right engaging, for example, only with anti-immigrant or anti-gender actors, and focused on political parties or social movements.
Research conducted in the framework of the AUTHLIB (Neo-authoritarianisms in Europe and the Liberal Democratic Response) project seeks to connect these various threads of analysis to understand the differences and similarities characterising their transnational diffusion in terms of framing strategy, organisational contacts and networks, and mobilisation events.
This discussion will seek to explain the mechanisms, channels and processes of the transnationalisation of illiberal actors and ideas by focusing on different case studies explored in the AUTHLIB project.
Data on online networking of illiberals will be presented, emphasising the actors and actor types from various countries in Europe that are most engaged in transnational interactions. The common frames used by these actors on their social media platforms will also be discussed. Additionally, relying on event chronologies and interview data, we will present initial findings from a more focused, qualitative analysis of key transnational players such as the Polish Ordo Iuris or the Hungarian Center for Fundamental Rights, highlighting CPAC as the central hub of transnational cooperation.
Speaker
Manuela Caiani is Associate Professor in Political Science at the Scuola Normale Superiore. She received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Florence, Italy, in 2006 and is the past recipient of various post doctoral fellowships (Doctoral TRA Fellowship, START Center, 2009, University of Maryland, USA), among which the Marie Curie (Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid) grant. Her research focuses on Social Movements and Europeanisation/transnationalisation; Far Right Politics; Extremism online; Populism; Movement-parties; Qualitative methods of social research.
Discussant
John Gaventa, Research Fellow. John is a political sociologist, educator and civil society practitioner with over 40 years of experience in research, teaching and organisational leadership in North and South.
Chair
Marjoke Oosterom, Power and Popular Politics Cluster Lead
Marjoke Oosterom is a research fellow and the cluster leader of the Power and Popular Politics research cluster at IDS. She holds a PhD from IDS and has a background in comparative politics and development studies.
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