Domestic Extremism in Europe - Athena Institute

Recommendations

Info

three countries from the thirteen that are devoid of such groups: Austria, Romania and Slovakia. The four active level 7 groups reside in two countries: one in England and three in Italy. The paper also explores the strategic landscape, insofar as it describes the challenges that domestic extremism poses and the fundamental misconceptions that hinder the fight against it. The study debunks the idea that domestic extremism stems solely from the great recession by showing that almost 43 per cent of identified groups had already been active before 2008. It also argues that, even though domestic extremist groups may seem less than fierce at first glance, they pose a plethora of threats that are still mostly ignored or downplayed by key ac- tors. Such groups cause shocks in the mainstream political arena and in societies in general. They also distort the mainstream political process on their own as well as via their connections to newly emerged extremist parties that are gaining ever-bigger footholds on national and local parliaments/municipalities. They are also capable of blocking sound policies about immigration, criminality and minority rights by securitizing, reifying and redefin- ing socioeconomic and other societal issues and turn them into security problems. Domestic Extremism in Europe - Threat Landscape 12
Countries in Western Europe still comfort themselves by thinking that extremism is mostly an Eastern European problem, a region that is less developed both economically and socially. However, the Athena Institute’s find- ings show that 67 per cent of the identified groups reside in Western countries. Moreover there are more groups of every threat level in Western-, than in Eastern Europe and level 7 groups can only be found in the West. Even level 6 groups can only be found in half of the examined Eastern countries while all scrutinized Western countries have at least one, but usually more. According to this paper, Greece is a good example of how socioeconomic issues, political crises, corruption, high number of non-integrated immigrants and other system- atic weaknesses can lead to an explosion in the popular support for extremist groups and parties when given country is hit by an internal or external shock, such as the great recession. Such issues can be discovered in all European countries; therefore the Hellenic Region should be looked upon not as an exception, but as the writing on the wall. The study also examines the tactical theatre as it describes the threat environment, formed by extremist groups that constantly pose newer and newer challenges whilst continuously adapting to their metamorphosing Domestic Extremism in Europe - Threat Landscape 13
Page 1 and 2: Tamás Berecz - Kristóf Domina Dom
Page 3 and 4: Tamás Berecz - Kristóf Domina Dom
Page 5 and 6: Table of Contents FOREWORD 7 EXECUT
Page 7 and 8: Foreword Rather than consolidation,
Page 9 and 10: level of constitutional freedoms an
Page 11: Executive Summary This paper is an
Page 15 and 16: 1 Domestic Extremism - Emerging Def
Page 17 and 18: vide a more detailed and in-depth a
Page 19 and 20: groups. There are 18 level 6 groups
Page 21 and 22: gerous via radicalization through h
Page 23 and 24: tified extremist groups have some k
Page 25 and 26: ism, Maoism or Anarchism for instan
Page 27 and 28: an unknown year of establishment, b
Page 29 and 30: threats and challenges these groups
Page 31 and 32: level 4 or higher threat level base
Page 33 and 34: The number of victims (people murde
Page 35 and 36: nomenon more and more seriously. Th
Page 37 and 38: On the other hand, the effects of t
Page 39 and 40: Iron Curtain developed some kind of
Page 41 and 42: Manuel Mireanu, Athena Institute No
Page 43 and 44: society, they attempt to securitize
Page 45 and 46: munities in post-communist countrie
Page 47 and 48: ties, demanding their papers, and i
Page 49 and 50: where human rights, civil liberties
Page 51 and 52: However, based on the Institute’s
Page 53 and 54: Strikes, protest and riots have bec
Page 55 and 56: Greece is, however, a ‘not so spe
Page 57 and 58: threat levels, while this also high
Page 59 and 60: Capitale Carcere e i suoi Carcerier
Page 61 and 62: hacker group target governmental co
Page 63 and 64:
party also has close ties to other,
Page 65 and 66:
THE MYTH OF THE LONE WOLF As it has
Page 67 and 68:
Islam (“counter-jihad”) writers
Page 69 and 70:
sympathizers. This poses a special
Page 71 and 72:
elty 15 (SHAC), etc. are all groups
Page 73 and 74:
archist Federation 17 , The Revolut
Page 75 and 76:
Moreover, they can utilize this tec
Page 77 and 78:
hostility. The New Hungarian Guard
Page 79 and 80:
criminal problems, not as socioecon
Page 81 and 82:
Alderman, L., 2012b. Right-Wing Ext
Page 83 and 84:
Guest, T., 2009. Fight for the Righ
Page 85 and 86:
Smith, H., 2012. Greek Crackdown on
Page 87:
About the Athena Institute The Athe
show all

Domestic Extremism in Europe - Athena Institute

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?