Modern European Democracy and Its Enemies: The Threat of the Extreme Right
Political dynamics in recent decades have posed a new extreme right-wing threat to the stability of democracies. This threat, which we will call the 'uncivil society', is far more fluid in nature than its predecessor, the subversive political party. It presents a (idiosyncratic) challenge...
| Published in: | Totalitarian movements and political religions |
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| Authors: | ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis
2001
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| In: |
Totalitarian movements and political religions
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| Further subjects: | B
Extreme Right-wing
B 'uncivil Society' B Threat To Democracy B Source Of Extremism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Political dynamics in recent decades have posed a new extreme right-wing threat to the stability of democracies. This threat, which we will call the 'uncivil society', is far more fluid in nature than its predecessor, the subversive political party. It presents a (idiosyncratic) challenge to regimes seeking to assure stability. Contrary to the 'party decline' and 'trade off' theses, we will argue that the 'uncivil society' and extreme right-wing parties operate jointly to promote similar goals and thus present a double threat to liberal democracies: one operating within the parliaments and the other operating from the surrounding environment. The first part of this article will explore the changing structure of the political process which has allowed the expansion of democracy's enemies. The second part will identify old and new enemies of democratic regimes and evaluate the level of threat each poses to democracy. Finally, we will assess whether 'uncivil society' has replaced the (subversive) political party as the principal source of extremism, or whether it co-operates with this same extremism. |
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| ISSN: | 1743-9647 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Totalitarian movements and political religions
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/714005438 |