European and American Extreme Right Groups and the Internet

Caiani Manuela is Assistant Professor at the IHS (Institute for Advanced studies) of Wien and Marie Curie Fellow at the URCJ (University Rey Juan Carlos) of Madrid. Linda Parenti obtained her PhD at the University of Florence in political Science and is currently research assistant (’stipendiat’) at the IHS of Wien.

• Chapter 1 Extreme Right Organizations and the Internet; Chapter 2 ‘Technological’, Political and Cultural Opportunities for the Extreme Right in the United States and the European Countries; Chapter 3 The Organizational Structure of the (Online) Galaxy of the European and American Extreme Right; Chapter 4 Extreme Right Groups and the Internet; Chapter 5 Between Real and Virtual; Chapter 6 Conclusion;

’Social movement studies have rarely addressed right-wing extremism and, conversely, research on the radical right has rarely located it within a social movement perspective. With its systematic cross-country comparison and focus on networks, this volume constitutes a very valuable exception. Theoretically innovative and empirically sound it demonstrates how much there is to gain by bridging insights from the two fields.’ Donatella della Porta, European University Institute, Italy ’A lot has been said and written about the galaxy of extreme right groups in Western democracies, and their relation to the Internet. Caiani and Parenti shift the conversation from anecdote and speculation to systematic empirical analysis. Drawing upon dominant paradigms in social movement research, and carefully exploring both online networks and offline activism, the authors have produced a text that will appeal not only to those focusing on the extreme right, but to all those interested in the relationship between militancy and communication technology at large.’ Mario Diani, Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona, Spain, and University of Trento, Italy ’This book is a major contribution to the study of right-wing political parties and movements and their use of modern technologies. Scholars of political science in general, and in the field of Computer-Mediated Communication and Information Communication Technologies studies will find an intriguing analysis of the relation between political organizations and the Internet. The well written, original and thought provoking volume sets a high standard for the analysis of the interplay between online and offline reality.’ Johannes Pollak, Institute for Political Science & Webster University Vienna, Austria ’Practitioners and scholars have highlighted the threat posed by political extremists using the Internet to further their objectives. These conclusions are mostly based upon speculation. Conversely, this fascinati