Terrorism as a Stage for Far­-Right Mobilization

• In Event: Right­-Wing Populism in Western Europe

Abstract

Research on the electoral success of far-right parties has traditionally focused on demand-side explanations such as voters' economic and cultural grievances or supply-side accounts highlighting political opportunities. So far, however, there has been little research on contexts that facilitate the interaction of the two. I argue that terrorist attacks move both demand and supply in favor of right-wing populism, making aspects of this ideology resonate with the media and other drivers of the social conversation while simultaneously increasing public sympathy for these ideas. I test the impact of terrorism on far-right politicians' mobilization efforts on social media, as well as public responses to such events, using high-frequency Twitter data collected around over thirty terrorist attacks between 2010--2016 in Europe and the United States. I find that (a) far-right politicians' rhetoric becomes significantly more xenophobic and anti-Muslim in the aftermath of terrorism, and (b) such messages become more popular among targeted populations even up to a month after the attacks. While these results present short-term dynamics, they nonetheless highlight the importance of incorporating the security dimension into the study of far-right politics.

Author

• Tamar Mitts, Columbia University