Anti-Racism Legal Action Against Political Parties and Their Members in Europe, 1965-2015

Dutch party leader Geert Wilders is expected to face legal charges for publicly making this statement. His French colleague Marine Le Pen, whose parliamentary immunity was lifted in 2013, will probably stand trial for a controversial statement as well. They would not be the first Dutch and French party leaders prosecuted for hate speech. And also in Belgium, Britain and Germany several party leaders have been taken to court. Other politicians have faced hate speech charges as well. All these examples relate to anti-racism legal action against extreme right or against radical/far right parties. Such action against these parties and their members is quite common in Europe, and takes various forms, including party bans, undercover surveillance, and raids of party members’ homes.

This paper is the first comprehensive study of legal action against these parties. Its research question is: What determines whether anti-racism legal action is taken against political parties? The project charts such action against parties across Europe since 1965, develops an analytical framework for the assessment of determinants of such action, and tests hypotheses about these causes. A key cause to be investigated is whether a party is considered radical or far right, or extreme right – and by whom. Various legal and political databases in 21 European countries are used to address the research question. These include data on parties as well as on legal action taken against them, 1965-2015.