6 minute read
Seeking to understand extremism.
Bike demonstration against threatened research
“Back in the day, people helped one another and you could feel safe when walking the streets.” Doctoral student Luca Versteegen calls it nostalgic thinking – an important motive for more and more people voting for populist far-right parties. – Currently, research in this growing right-wing extremist environment is threatened, not least since Russia invaded Ukraine, he says.
Luca Versteegen has just completed a 1,500 kilometre bike ride from Budapest in Hungary to Athens in Greece. From a city where the extreme right is in power, to a city where democracy took its first tentative steps several thousand years ago. Once in Athens, he participated in a conference on political psychology, which is Luca Versteegen's field of research at the department of political science in Gothenburg. His doctoral thesis deals with the socio-psychological reasons for the tremendous success of the extreme right in the last 10–20 years.
Through his bike ride, he managed to collect 18,000 SEK – for the Scholars at Risk network. The money goes directly to support researchers who can no longer carry out their research freely. He mentions a Hungarian researcher who was forced to move to Italy for conducting research on the Hungarian government. He also talks about a Turkish colleague who wanted to study the situation of sexual minorities in the country. He was blacklisted with the comment: you will not receive research funds if you continue with this. In Ukraine, many universities have been damaged in the fighting and researchers have been forced to flee. – Being able to participate in a research conference where ideas and also opinions can be freely exchanged without the risk of reprisal is not a natural state of affairs to everyone in the world. Unfortunately, the authoritarian development in Hungary, Poland, Russia and Turkey has meant restrictions on the freedom to investigate pressing social issues in these countries, states Luca Versteegen.
The populist parties differentiate between normal, ordinary people and politicians, who are considered corrupt and mostly interested in helping themselves. The ordinary people are also superior to the foreigners.
The financial crisis of 2008 and the
Luca Versteegen comes from Hamburg and is a doctoral student at the department of political science.
LUCA VERSTEEGEN
refugee crisis of 2015 are considered to have given a real boost to far-right parties in many countries. They are sometimes seen as putting much-needed pressure on the other parties, but they also pose a threat to democracy as they question the democratic system. They also attack ethnic and religious groups, or sexual minorities who are not considered to be part of the people.
Common explanations for people voting for far-right parties tend to be financial and cultural: weak links to the labour market, that one either does not have a job or is in low-paid employment, and that one lives in an area with a lot of immigrants. – They have received some scientific support. But I am interested in how two people with the same social circumstances can vote so differently: one for an established party like the Social Democrats, and the other for an extreme right-wing party.
More and more researchers in the field are now saying that the subjective experience of social developments can be more decisive than the objective conditions. The perceived social structure may, for example, be more important than the number of migrants in a residential area.
Luca Versteegen analyses large amounts of representative data from the Netherlands. They show that people who are nostalgic about how society and people used to be tend to vote for the far right. They feel disadvantaged and unhappy and find answers in populism. People who are instead nostalgic for personal things like music or family holidays tend to vote for the traditional parties, probably because they are happy with their memories.
In the qualitative interviews with 30 right-wing, populist German voters, he decided to pose an open question: How do you experience your social, political and cultural situation now compared to 30 years ago? Many respondents stated that they felt safer and were more trusting of other people in the past.
But in East Germany, it was hardly safer in the past with neighbours who could be informants and the constant surveillance, Luca Versteegen argues. – These are what I call nostalgic depictions of the past that can explain why far-right parties, which present the same nostalgic narratives, are successful.
The interviews also show that some people do not feel appreciated as men and white.
– They say, for example, that quotas mean that men are discriminated against. They are bothered by new gender-neutral words or any words that even refer to women. They think the immigrants have taken over. They belong to the majority society, but they still feel excluded.
Many consider themselves disadvantaged by society.
– In East Germany, which we have studied, they have had bad experiences with the government. The degree of trust in politicians, and trust in people in general, seems to matter.
Many people talk about the pandemic, the refugee crisis and global warming. There are too many things going on at the same time, people feel overwhelmed. – I also believe that an individual’s ability to handle challenges is crucial for determining how they vote.
Something in the system must be sick, seems to be a conclusion that gives support to the far right and its simplistic explanations, where immigration is singled out as the main problem. Another nostalgic narrative that re-emerges is that society was more homogenous before, which may be true. But the conclusion that a party on the far right can solve the challenges of the future needs to be explained. – I believe that the solution to reducing polarization in society is education. The segregation that is widespread in Gothenburg, for example, is not good either. In Landala, where I live, it is very white. It is better to have a mix of people.
Luca Versteegen points out that he has some way to go before he can draw certain conclusions. He says selection can matter. The 30 people he had the opportunity to interview were all politically engaged and more experienced rhetorically than other voters. The far-right parties in Sweden and France have undergone a "detoxification" in order to increase their voter support. But in Hungary, where Luca started his bike tour, and in Germany, where he interviewed far-right supporters, the radical right-wing parties have become even more extreme. – Some we interviewed expressed a very racist ideology. I cycled from Budapest, Hungary to Athens, Greece, raising money to make people aware that research into this growing far-right environment is now under threat.
Facts
– Large numbers of researchers and students have been forced to flee after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but only women have been allowed to leave the country. Most of them remain in Ukraine and struggle to continue their work despite the dangers. Many are also taking part in the war. A number of universities have been damaged or destroyed, research infrastructure has been damaged, including scientific equipment and laboratories. Many higher education institutions have been relocated. – Scienceforukraine.eu is a grassroots movement with volunteer researchers and students from many countries, who, through contacts with funders and policy makers, are working to support Ukrainian researchers and students who have been affected by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It disseminates information on social channels about how to help Ukrainian academics, maintains a database of the assistance and collaborates with organisations, governments and the scientific community. Above all, countries in Eastern Europe have welcomed Ukrainian researchers, students and their families. Donations from various European institutions, governments and the EU have been an important means of support for Ukraine.
Text: Peter Olofsson Photo: Peter Olofsson and Kristina Wagner
