A Crisis of Representation? Euro-Skepticism and Extreme Right Online Politics in Western Europe

We commonly look at the Internet as a crucial modern tool for the development of a ‘global village’, diffusion of communication and equality among citizens, global thinking and universalism. However, it is also evident that it has also dark side, which is not widely explored. Several academic and not- academic sources underline that throughout the world right-wing extremists are increasingly using the Internet as a tool for communication and recruitment and this is considered a significant phenomenon in Europe. This paper aims at analyzing the potential role of internet for extremist right-wing organizations in western Europe (a geographical area where the ER is gaining increasing ground), with particular reference to identity formation, organizational contacts and mobilization. It addresses these issues, locating the complex relationship between extreme right groups and the Internet, in a broader scenario of new challenges and opportunities provided by new technologies to civil society organizations, together with the crisis of traditional forms of political representation and the Euro-skepticism. It adopts a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods: (1) a comparative content analysis of web sites to trace the communicative dimension of right-wing radicalization against the EU  and (2) a social network analysis to investigate the organizational and mobilizational structure of the right-wing milieu. The analysis centers on right-wing political parties and non-party organizations in 6 western  countries: Austria, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and England.