Domestic Extremism in Europe - Athena Institute

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think about Anders Breivik in Norway, the group in Germany that killed several immigrants during a long period of time, the so-called Roma Death Squad in Hungary that killed six civilians of a Roma origin. Beyond the lives lost, all these attacks had dire political effects, too. Most extremist groups have financial difficulties, the number of their members is usually low, many times they are badly organized and they do not have the support of rogue states as international terrorist organizations do, thus they are considered to be less dangerous. However, this type of evaluation of the situation ignores several features and aspects of extremist activity. This chapter will not go into details about extremists who carried out violent and deathly attacks in the past couple of years, such as Breivik or the Roma Death Squad, because they will be discussed in detail in another segment. Still they have to be mentioned here as a reminder that extremism has elevated to a level where it is just as dangerous and deathly as international terrorism. Even groups that do not commit violent acts themselves per se (e.g. level 4 groups) can nurture certain individuals on their fringes that are more than capable of committing serious offences, even deadly attacks. Domestic Extremism in Europe - Threat Landscape 36
On the other hand, the effects of these incidents on mainstream politics must not be downplayed or disregarded as minute or non-existent either. Therefore, even if extremist groups are arguably unable to ignite war, they are still able of wreaking havoc, cause suffering to civilians, weaken the reputation of the state and pressure mainstream politicians to slowly adopt illiberal policies. High-profile state-sponsored Jihadi terrorism indeed showed that it is more than capable of threatening the lives of Europeans. However, its political effects on Europe were/are minimal, not to mention counterproductive. On the other hand, domestic extremist groups are already affecting mainstream European politics. They are distorting policies in key fields, block or counter good governance, thus – in the long run – has a potential to de- stroy Europe at least as we now understand it. EFFECTS OF DOMESTIC EXTREMISM ON MAINSTREAM POLITICS – SECURITIZATION AND REIFICATION OF SOCIETAL ISSUES There are several societal issues and hardships that emerged in the past sixty years or so in European countries. Western, democratic societies have gone through Domestic Extremism in Europe - Threat Landscape 37
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 and 12: Executive Summary This paper is an
Page 13 and 14: Countries in Western Europe still c
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: nomenon more and more seriously. Th
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:
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