Thread by @PietroCastelliG

🗣️Our new book is out today: “#CasaPound Italia: contemporary #Extreme #Right #Politics” co-written by @CaterinaFroio @SciencesPo_CEE Matteo Albanese, Giorgia Bulli and myself @CrexUiO, for @routledgebooks @FFRAFAction (thread 1/15)
shorturl.at/nSW19

@CaterinaFroio @SciencesPo_CEE @CrexUiO @routledgebooks @FFRAFAction The volume presents a theory of contemporary right-wing #extremism that helps understand how a fringe group like CPI has been successful in placing its ideas in public debates in #Italy. shorturl.at/nSW19 (2/15)

@CaterinaFroio @SciencesPo_CEE @CrexUiO @routledgebooks @FFRAFAction We argue that this type of success has to do with #hybridization, which we define as the blurring of five main aspects of ‘#extreme right politics’: #ideology, internal structure, #activism, #mobilization and #communication. (3/15)

@CaterinaFroio @SciencesPo_CEE @CrexUiO @routledgebooks @FFRAFAction These five features of CPI politics are blurred as they display elements mediated from a) different political cultures (including traditional #extremeright values) and b) political parties & social movements (as shown by @AndreaLPPirro and me mobilizationjournal.org/doi/abs/10.178…)
(4/15)

@CaterinaFroio @SciencesPo_CEE @CrexUiO @routledgebooks @FFRAFAction @AndreaLPPirro Hybridization in these 5 main aspects of ‘extreme-right politics’ allows attracting quality #media attention & validating #extremist views in the public sphere, as illustrated by our previous work with @CaterinaFroio link.springer.com/article/10.105…
(5/15)

@CaterinaFroio @SciencesPo_CEE @CrexUiO @routledgebooks @FFRAFAction @AndreaLPPirro To corroborate this claim, we collected & analyzed data qualitatively & quantitatively over 5 years of fieldwork in different cities in #Italy. Data includes open participant observation to events, interviews, and content analysis of music, news and social media. We find that:

@CaterinaFroio @SciencesPo_CEE @CrexUiO @routledgebooks @FFRAFAction @AndreaLPPirro CPI's ideology is not fully entrenched in historical #Fascism but it is not disconnected from it either. It is indebted to various strands of historical Fascism (opp to democracy), Destra Sociale (welfare state), and Nouvelle Droite (ethnopluralism). (7/15)

@CaterinaFroio @SciencesPo_CEE @CrexUiO @routledgebooks @FFRAFAction @AndreaLPPirro CPI's internal structure does not conform to either the model followed by political #parties, or that of #grassroots groups. Rather, it combines formal and informal features merging the organizational practices of social #movements with those of political parties. (8/15)

@CaterinaFroio @SciencesPo_CEE @CrexUiO @routledgebooks @FFRAFAction @AndreaLPPirro #Activism is inspired by images, styles & practices from different political cultures, including extreme right identifiers (#Mussolini, ‘identity rock’), left-wing icons (e.g. Che Guevara) and coded aesthetic choices (e.g. clothing)
(9/15)

@CaterinaFroio @SciencesPo_CEE @CrexUiO @routledgebooks @FFRAFAction @AndreaLPPirro CPI does not consider #protest tactics a suboptimal option compared to office-seeking strategies, but complementary to them. Hence, #mobilization combines actions inside & outside the institutional arena, including electoral campaigns, grassroots and agitprop tactics.
(10/15)

@CaterinaFroio @SciencesPo_CEE @CrexUiO @routledgebooks @FFRAFAction @AndreaLPPirro The #communication of CPI combines the professionalized media-oriented tactics of both political parties and social movements and it allows the group to get coverage for both protest and electoral activities.
(11/15)

@CaterinaFroio @SciencesPo_CEE @CrexUiO @routledgebooks @FFRAFAction @AndreaLPPirro Overall hybridization in CPI’s politics has granted the group greater visibility in public debates, making CPI recognizable in the crowded field of the Italian #FarRight and in the mainstream public sphere.
(12/15)

@CaterinaFroio @SciencesPo_CEE @CrexUiO @routledgebooks @FFRAFAction @AndreaLPPirro While hybridization does not pay electorally, it accounts for broader cultural changes in the way a right-wing extremist group and ideas drift into mainstream public debates.
(13/15)

@CaterinaFroio @SciencesPo_CEE @CrexUiO @routledgebooks @FFRAFAction @AndreaLPPirro Since hybridization in extreme right politics might foster #radicalization of #mainstream values, our theory may help understand the disproportionate success of other far-right groups in Europe and beyond.
(14/15)

@CaterinaFroio @SciencesPo_CEE @CrexUiO @routledgebooks @FFRAFAction @AndreaLPPirro The first presentations of the book by @CaterinaFroio and myself will be in Paris (4 March @sciencespo CERI) and Tuebingen (28 April @uni_tue). Hopefully more will follow!
(15/15)

@CaterinaFroio @SciencesPo_CEE @CrexUiO @routledgebooks @FFRAFAction @AndreaLPPirro @sciencespo @uni_tue @threadreaderapp unroll