Abstract
Every definition of left- and right-wing extremism should in essence have two components: one that describes the necessary preconditions to be regarded as extremist, and another one that classifies it as either left or right. In this chapter I will pursue three goals: first, I separate the concept of political extremism from the two main competing notions in the literature, i.e. populism and radicalism. Secondly, I define political extremism in general. And thirdly, I lay out what defines and characterizes the extreme left and right. In general, there is a broad consensus about what right-wing extremism is, whereas left-wing extremism is much more difficult to define. Furthermore, the concept itself is split into two parts, i.e. Marxism and anarchism, which can overlap but also be mutually exclusive. It is therefore reasonable to contest the use of an overarching term like left-wing extremism. Analytically, we should therefore speak of Marxist extremism or anarchist extremism to enhance the precision of the subject. Similar appeals should be made to the public debate, which often allocates the label “extremist" uncritical and prematurely to various groups.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
- 2.
In fact, communist and fascist ideologies are not populist but rather elitist (Mudde & Rovira Kaltwasser, 2017).
- 3.
The German interpretation is strongly based on the official definition of the Verfassungsschutzbericht (annual reports of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution) which uses a similar distinction.
- 4.
This faces severe criticism today. Many authors argue that it has to be at least a two-dimensional space, e.g. egalitarian vs. anti-egalitarian (equality) and anarchic vs. illiberal (liberty) (Bobbio, 1996), authoritarian vs. libertarian and redistribution vs. market allocation (Kitschelt & McGann, 1995), or integration vs. demarcation on a cultural and an economic dimension (Kriesi et al., 2008). On the individual level there is also sharp critique that citizens differ in their understanding of notions like “left” and “right” (see e.g. Bauer et al., 2017; Jungkunz, 2019). I will elaborate on this further in Chapter 5.
- 5.
Lipset’s original claim that fascism is based on the extremism of the middle class has been criticized recently. The second and third waves of right-wing extremism have seen a more diverse electorate of right-wing extremist parties among various classes of society (Mudde, 2000).
- 6.
For instance, Midlarsky (2011, p. 7) considers political extremism as “the will to power by a social movement in the service of a political program typically at variance with that supported by existing state authorities, and for which individual liberties are to be curtailed in the name of collective goals, including the mass murder of those who would actually or potentially disagree with that program. Restrictions on individual freedom in the interests of the collectivity and the willingness to kill massively are central to this definition.” It is obvious that this definition gets far too close to what most people would call terrorism.
- 7.
Since anti-democracy and anti-pluralism are regarded as necessary elements of any extremist force and I have discussed them already above, I refrain from going into further detail in this chapter.
- 8.
This list could be extended even further. For instance, the above mentioned characteristics could again crystallize in anti-Americanism or anti-communism, corporatist notions in politics and the economy and cultural pessimism (Zimmermann & Saalfeld, 1993).
- 9.
The term is also heavily debated (see Butterwegge, 2010). The next chapter returns to that perspective and draws conclusions.
- 10.
In fact, Marx never presented a systematic theory of his ideas and the last chapter of Das Kapital remains unfinished (Dahrendorf, 1959).
- 11.
In fact, in some eyes his ideas are seen as “fountainhead of a minor tradition of destructive and violent anarchism which prefers the gun to reason, coercion to persuasion” (Marshall, 2008, p. 306).
- 12.
Even though he initially welcomed the revolution of 1917, he was a sharp critic of Lenin’s implementation. Of the “dictatorial tendencies” of the Bolshevik government, he writes prophetically, we “are learning in Russia how not to introduce communism" (Kropotkin, 1970, pp. 253–254) and “the very word ‘socialism’ will become a curse, as happened in France with the idea of equality for forty years after the rule of the Jacobins” (Kropotkin, 1973, p. 148).
- 13.
Some scholars go even further and consider right-wing extremism as inherently anti-democratic, but socialism not necessarily. They argue that right-wing extremist characteristics like racism, xenophobia, or nationalism inevitably go against the tenets of liberal democracy, whereas facets of left-wing extremism like anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, or anti-fascism do not (see Butterwegge, 2010; Neugebauer, 2000).
- 14.
For instance, Wilhelm Heitmeyer (2018) uses the term “authoritarian-nationalist radicalism” (autoritärer Nationalradikalismus) to describe a form of right-wing extremism that is located between conservative right-wing populism and violent right-wing extremism.
References
Allport, G. W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Addison-Wesley.
Arzheimer, K. (2019). Conceptual confusion is not always a bad thing—The curious case of European radical right studies. In K. Marker, A. Schmitt, & J. Sirsch (Eds.), Demokratie und Entscheidung (pp. 23–40). Springer.
Arzheimer, K., & Falter, J. W. (2002). Die Pathologie des Normalen. Eine Anwendung des Scheuch-Klingemann-Modells zur Erklärung rechtsextremen Denkens und Verhaltens. In D. Fuchs, E. Roller, & B. Weßels (Eds.), Bürger und Demokratie in Ost und West (pp. 85–107). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
Backes, U. (1989). Politischer Extremismus in demokratischen Verfassungsstaaten: Elemente einer normativen Rahmentheorie. Westdeutscher Verlag.
Backes, U. (2007). Meaning and forms of political extremism in past and present. Central European Political Studies Review, 4(4), 242–262.
Bakunin, M. (2005). Statism and anarchy. Cambridge University Press.
Bannister, R. (1989). Social Darwinism: Science and myth in Anglo-American social thought. Temple University Press.
Barker, M. (1981). The new racism: Conservatives and the ideology of the tribe. Junction Books.
Bauer, P. C., Barberá, P., Ackermann, K., & Venetz, A. (2017). Is the Left-right scale a valid measure of ideology? Political Behavior, 39(3), 553–583.
Berger, P. L. (2002). Introduction. In P. L. Berger & S. P. Huntington (Eds.), Many globalizations (pp. 1–16). Oxford University Press.
Bobbio, N. (1996). Left and right: The significance of a political distinction. Polity Press.
Bowen, J. (2004). Moving targets: Rethinking anarchist strategies. In J. Purkis & J. Bowen (Eds.), Changing anarchism (pp. 117–128). Manchester University Press.
Butterwegge, C. (2010). Extremismus-, Totalitarismus- und Populismustheorien: Ideologien zur Diskreditierung der Linken: Eine Grundsatzkritik an ihren analytischen Defiziten, verborgenen Interessen und politischen Implikationen. In A. Pfahl-Traughber (Ed.), Jahrbuch für Extremismus- und Terrorismusforschung 2009/2010 (pp. 33–60). Fachhochschule des Bundes für Öffentliche Verwaltung.
Carter, A. (1971). The political theory of anarchism. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Castanho Silva, B., Jungkunz, S., Helbling, M., & Littvay, L. (2019). An empirical comparison of seven populist attitudes scales. Political Research Quarterly, 73(2), 409–424.
Chomsky, N. (1970). Introduction. In D. Guerin (Ed.), Anarchism (pp. vii–xx). Monthly Review Press.
Chomsky, N., & Herman, E. S. (1979). The Washington connection and third world fascism. Black Rose Books.
Coates, A. J. (1997). The ethics of war. Manchester University Press.
Cuninghame, P. (2010). Autonomism as a global social movement. Working USA: The Journal of Labor and Society, 13(4), 451–464.
Dahrendorf, R. (1959). Class and class conflict in Industrial society. Stanford University Press.
Dann, O. (1996). Nation und Nationalismus in Deutschland: 1770–1990 (3rd ed.). Beck: C.H.
Decker, O., & Brähler, E. (Eds.). (2018). Flucht ins Autoritäre: Rechtsextreme Dynamiken in der Mitte der Gesellschaft. Psychosozial-Verlag.
de Lange, S. L., & Mudde, C. (2005). Political extremism in Europe. European Political Science, 4(4), 476–488.
Della Porta, D. (1999). Protest, protesters, and protest policing: Public discourses in Italy and Germany from the 1960s to the 1980s. In M. Giugni, D. McAdam, & T. Charles (Eds.), How social movements matter (pp. 66–96). University of Minnesota Press.
Della Porta, D., & Fillieule, O. (2004). Policing social protest. In D. A. Snow, S. A. Soule, & H. Kriesi (Eds.), The Blackwell companion to social movements (pp. 217–241). Blackwell.
Dolgoff, S. (1972). Bakunin on anarchy: Selected works by the activist-founder of world anarchism. Vintage Books.
Dunphy, R. (2004). Contesting capitalism?: Left parties and European integration. Manchester University Press.
Dupuis-Deri, F. (2010). The Black Blocs ten years after Seattle: Anarchism, direct action, and deliberative practices. Journal for the Study of Radicalism, 4(2), 45–82.
Eckhardt, W., & Newcombe, A. G. (1969). Militarism, personality, and other social attitudes. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 13(2), 210–219.
Eisenhower, D. D. (1961). Farewell address. January 17.
Elster, J. (1986). An introduction to Karl Marx. Cambridge University Press.
Fabbrini, S. (2002). The domestic sources of European anti-Americanism. Government and Opposition, 37(1), 3–14.
Fabbrini, S. (2004). Layers of anti-Americanism: Americanization, American unilateralism and anti-Americanism in a European perspective. European Journal of American Culture, 23(2), 79–94.
Feustel, R. (2011). Entropie des Politischen. In Forum für kritische Rechtsextremismusforschung (Ed.), Ordnung. Macht. Extremismus (pp. 117-139). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
Gellner, E. (1983). Nations and nationalism. Basil Blackwell.
Geronimo, Katsiaficas, G., & Kuhn, G. (2012). Fire and flames: A History of the German autonomist movement. PM Press.
Glick, P. (2002). Sacrificial lambs dressed in wolves’ clothing: Envious prejudice, ideology, and the scapegoating of Jews. In L. S. Newman & R. Erber (Eds.), Understanding genocide (pp. 113–142). Oxford University Press.
Gomez, R., Morales, L., & Ramiro, L. (2016). Varieties of radicalism: Examining the diversity of radical left parties and voters in Western Europe. West European Politics, 39(2), 351–379.
Habermas, J. (1988). Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns: Zur Kritik der funktionalistischen Vernunft (Vol. 2). Suhrkamp.
Hartleb, F. (2004). Rechts- und Linkspopulismus: Eine Fallstudie anhand von Schill-Partei und PDS. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
Hawkins, K. A., Carlin, R., Littvay, L., & Rovira Kaltwasser, C. (Eds.). (2019). The ideational approach to populism: Concept, theory, and analysis. Routledge.
Hawkins, K. A., Riding, S., & Mudde, C. (2012). Measuring populist attitudes. Political concepts committee on concepts and methods Working Paper Series, 55.
Hawkins, K. A., Rovira Kaltwasser, C., & Andreadis, I. (2018). The activation of populist attitudes. Government and Opposition, 1–25.
Heitmeyer, W. (2018). Autoritäre Versuchungen: Signaturen der Bedrohungen I. Suhrkamp.
Hlouek, V., & Kopeek, L. (2010). Origin, ideology and transformation of political parties: East-Central and Western Europe compared. Ashgate.
Hodge, C. C. (2009). Old wine and old bottles: Anti-Americanism in Britain, France and Germany. Journal of Transatlantic Studies, 7(2), 148–162.
Ignazi, P. (1992). The silent counter-revolution. Hypotheses on the emergence of extreme right-wing parties in Europe. European Journal of Political Research, 22(1), 3–34.
Jagers, J., & Walgrave, S. (2007). Populism as political communication style: An empirical study of political parties’ discourse in Belgium. European Journal of Political Research, 46(3), 319–345.
Jamin, J. (2013). Two different realities: Notes on populism and the extreme right. In A. Mammone, E. Godin, & B. Jenkins (Eds.), Varieties of right-wing extremism in Europe (pp. 38–52). Routledge.
Jaschke, H.-G. (1991). Streitbare Demokratie und Innere Sicherheit: Grundlagen, Praxis und Kritik. Westdeutscher Verlag.
Jungkunz, S. (2019). Towards a measurement of extreme left-wing attitudes. German Politics, 28(1), 101–122.
Kailitz, S. (2004). Politischer Extremismus in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland: Eine Einführung. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
Katsiaficas, G. (2006). The subversion of politics: European autonomous social movements and the decolonization of everyday life. AK Press.
Keith, D., & March, L. (2016). Introduction. In L. March & D. Keith (Eds.), Europe’s radical left (pp. 1–23). Rowman & Littlefield.
Kiess, J., & Decker, O. (2010). Der Rechtsextremismusbegriff — Einführung und Problemanzeige. In O. Decker, M.Weißmann, J. Kiess, & E. Brähler (Eds.), Die Mitte in der Krise (pp. 10-20). Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
Kitschelt, H., & McGann, A. J. (1995). The radical right in Western Europe: A comparative analysis. University of Michigan Press.
Klein, K. M., & Kruglanski, A. W. (2013). Commitment and extremism: A goal systemic analysis. Journal of Social Issues, 69(3), 419–435.
Knappertsbusch, F. (2016). Antiamerikanismus in Deutschland: Über die Funktion von Amerikabildern in nationalistischer und ethnozentrischer Rhetorik. transcript.
Koch, K. (1991). Back to Sarajevo or beyond Trianon? Some thoughts on the problem of nationalism in Eastern Europe. Netherlands Journal of Social Sciences, 27(1), 29–42.
Kriesi, H., Grande, E., Lachat, R., Dolezal, M., Bornschier, S., & Frey, T. (2008). Globalization and its impact on national spaces of competition. In H. Kriesi, E. Grande, R. Lachat, M. Dolezal, S. Bornschier, & T. Frey (Eds.), West European politics in the age of gobalization (pp. 3–22). Cambridge University Press.
Kropotkin, P. (1902). Mutual aid: A factor of evolution. McClure Phillips & Co.
Kropotkin, P. (1906). The conquest of bread. Chapman and Hall.
Kropotkin, P. (1969). The state: Its historic role. Freedom Press.
Kropotkin, P. (1970). The Russian revolution and the Soviet Government: Letter to the workers of Western Europe. In R. N. Baldwin (Ed.), Kropotkin’s revolutionary pamphlets (pp. 252–259). Dover Publications.
Kropotkin, P. (1973). Two letters to Lenin. In P. Avrich (Ed.), The anarchists in the Russian revolution (pp. 146–149). Thames and Hudson.
Kropotkin, P. (1995). The conquest of bread and other writings. Cambridge University Press.
Lipset, S. M. (1959). Social stratification and “Right-Wing extremism.” British Journal of Sociology, 10(4), 346–382.
Lipset, S. M. (1960). Political man: The Social bases of politics. Doubleday.
Lipset, S. M., & Raab, E. (1971). The politics of unreason: Right-wing extremism in America, 1790–1970. Heinemann.
March, L., & Rommerskirchen, C. (2015). Out of left field? Explaining the variable electoral success of European radical left parties. Party Politics, 21(1), 40–53.
Mare, M. (2008). Environmental radicalism and extremism in postcommunist Europe. Journal for the Study of Radicalism, 2(1), 91–107.
Marshall, P. (2008). Demanding the impossible: A History of anarchism. Harper Perennial.
Marx, K. (1883). Das Kapital. Otto Meissner.
Marx, K. (1904). A contribution to the critique of political economy. Charles H. Kerr & Company.
Marx, K., & Engels, F. (1998). The German ideology. Prometheus Books.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–396.
Maximoff, G. P. (1964). The political philosophy of Bakunin: Scientific anarchism. Free Press.
Midlarsky, M. I. (2011). Origins of political extremism: Mass violence in the twentieth century and beyond. Cambridge University Press.
Mudde, C. (1995). Right-wing extremism analyzed: A comparative analysis of the ideologies of three alleged right-wing extremist parties (NPD, NDP, CP’86). European Journal of Political Research, 27(2), 203–224.
Mudde, C. (1996). The war of words defining the extreme right party family. West European Politics, 19(2), 225–248.
Mudde, C. (2000). The ideology of the extreme right. Manchester University Press.
Mudde, C. (2004). The populist Zeitgeist. Government and Opposition, 39(3), 541–563.
Mudde, C. (2007). Populist radical right parties in Europe. Cambridge University Press.
Mudde, C. (2010). The populist radical right: A pathological normalcy. West European Politics, 33(6), 1167–1186.
Mudde, C. (2018). The far right in America. Routledge.
Mudde, C., & Rovira Kaltwasser, C. (2013). Exclusionary vs. inclusionary populism: Comparing contemporary Europe and Latin America. Government and Opposition, 48(2), 147-174.
Mudde, C., & Rovira Kaltwasser, C. (2017). Populism: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
Müller, J.-W. (2016). What is populism? University of Pennsylvania Press.
Nacos, B. L., Shapiro, R. Y., & Bloch-Elkon, Y. (2011). Selling fear: Counterterrorism, the media, and public opinion. University of Chicago Press.
Nattke, M., & Göpner, F. (2013). Uneindeutige Definitionen. Eine Begriffsverwirrung. In Kulturbüro Sachsen e.V. (Ed.), (Dia)Logbuch Sachsen (pp. 19–31). Springer.
Neugebauer, G. (2000). Extremismus — Rechtsextremismus — Linksextremismus: Einige Anmerkungen zu Begriffen, Forschungskonzepten, Forschungsfragen und Forschungsergebnissen. In W. Schubarth & R. Stöss (Eds.), Rechtsextremismus in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (pp. 13–37). Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung.
Neugebauer, G. (2010). “Der Facher des Bösen — Was wir mit Extremismus alles zu meinen meinen”. Eine kurze Befassung mit Begriffen und Thesen. In Kulturbüro Sachsen e.V., Weiterdenken - Heinrich Böll Stiftung Sachsen e.V., Forum für kritische Rechtsextremismusforschung, & Studierendenrat der TU Dresden (Eds.), Gibt es Extremismus? Extremismusansatz und Extremismusbegriff in der Auseinandersetzung mit Neonazismus und (anti-)demokratischen Einstellungen (pp. 13–18). Heinrich Böll Stiftung Sachsen.
Nkrumah, K. (1966). Neo-colonialism: The last stage of imperialism. International Publishers.
Pfahl-Traughber, A. (2010a). Gemeinsamkeiten im Denken der Feinde einer offenen Gesellschaft: Strukturmerkmale extremistischer Ideologien. In A. Pfahl-Traughber (Ed.), Jahrbuch für Extremismus- und Terrorismusforschung 2009/2010 (pp. 9–32). Fachhochschule des Bundes für Öffentliche Verwaltung.
Pfahl-Traughber, A. (2010b). Kritik der Kritik der Extremismustheorie- und Totalitarismustheorie: Eine Auseinandersetzung mit den Einwanden von Christoph Butterwegge. In A. Pfahl-Traughber (Ed.), Jahrbuch für Extremismus- und Terrorismusforschung 2009/2010 (pp. 61–86). Fachhochschule des Bundes für Öffentliche Verwaltung.
Pfahl-Traughber, A. (2014). Linksextremismus in Deutschland. Springer.
Proudhon, P.-J. (1875). La Pornocratie Ou Les Femmes Dans Les Temps Modernes. A. Lacroix.
Proudhon, P.-J. (1876). What is property? Benjamin R. Tucker.
Ramiro, L. (2016). Support for radical left parties in Western Europe: Social background, ideology and political orientations. European Political Science Review, 8(1), 1–23.
Rooduijn, M. (2017). What unites the voter bases of populist parties? Comparing the electorates of 15 populist parties. European Political Science Review, 20, 1–18.
Rovira Kaltwasser, C. (2012). The ambivalence of populism: threat and corrective for democracy. Democratization, 19(2), 184–208.
Scheuch, E., & Klingemann, H.-D. (1967). Theorie des Rechtsradikalismus in westlichen Industriegesellschaften. In H.-D. Ortlieb & B. Molitor (Eds.), Hamburger Jahrbuch für Wirtschafts- und Gesellschaftspolitik (pp. 11–29). J.C.B. Mohr.
Schwartz, D. M. (1998). Environmental terrorism: Analyzing the concept. Journal of Peace Research, 35(4), 483–496.
Shermer, M., & Grobman, A. (2009). Denying history: Who says the Holocaust never happened and why do they say it? University of California Press.
Stanley, B. (2008). The thin ideology of populism. Journal of Political Ideologies, 13(1), 95–110.
Stirner, M. (1845). Der Einzige und sein Eigenthum. Otto Wigand.
Stirner, M. (1913). The ego and his own. A.C. Fifield, E.C. Walker.
Stöss, R. (2007). Rechtsextremismus im Wandel (2nd ed.). Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
Taggart, P. (2000). Populism. Open University Press.
Tarrow, S. G. (2011). Power in movement: Social movements and contentious politics (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Tilly, C. (1978). From mobilization to revolution. Random House.
Turse, N. (2008). The complex: How the military invades our everyday lives. Metropolitan Books.
van den Berghe, P. (1967). Race and racism: A comparative perspective. Wiley.
van Prooijen, J.-W., Krouwel, A. P. M., & Pollet, T. V. (2015). Political extremism predicts belief in conspiracy theories. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6(5), 570–578.
Visser, M., Lubbers, M., Kraaykamp, G., & Jaspers, E. (2014). Support for radical left ideologies in Europe. European Journal of Political Research, 53(3), 541–558.
Westle, B., & Niedermayer, O. (1992). Contemporary right-wing extremism in West Germany: “The Republicans” and their electorate. European Journal of Political Research, 22(1), 83–100.
Whitebook, J. (2004). The marriage of Marx and Freud: Critical theory and psychoanalysis. In F. Rush (Ed.), The Cambridge companion to critical theory (pp. 74–102). Cambridge University Press.
Wimmer, A. (1997). Explaining xenophobia and racism: A critical review of current research approaches. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 20(1), 17–41.
Wimmer, A. (2002). Nationalist exclusion and ethnic conflict: Shadows of modernity. Cambridge University Press.
Wolfsfeld, G. (2004). Media and the path to peace. Cambridge University Press.
Zettl, C. (2014). Die Wähler der Linkspartei.PDS von 1994 bis 2009. Springer.
Zimmermann, E., & Saalfeld, T. (1993). The three waves of West German right-wing extremism. In P. H. Merkl & L. Weinberg (Eds.), Encounters with the contemporary radical right (pp. 50–74). Westview Press.
Zinchenko, Y. P. (2014). Extremism from the perspective of a system approach. Psychology in Russia: State of the art, 7(1), 23–33.
Zuquete, J. P. (2014). Men in Black: Dynamics, violence, and lone wolf potential. Terrorism and Political Violence, 26(1), 95–109.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Jungkunz, S. (2022). What Is Political Extremism?. In: The Nature and Origins of Political Extremism In Germany and Beyond. New Perspectives in German Political Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83336-7_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83336-7_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-83335-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-83336-7
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)