Intersections. East European Journal of Society and Politics

Intersections is a peer reviewed journal which promotes multidisciplinary and comparative thinking on Eastern and Central European societies in a global context. The journal publishes research with international relevance and encourages comparative analysis both within the region and with other parts of the world. The journal was founded by the Centre for Social Sciences of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest and provides an international forum for scholars coming from and/or working on the region.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Call for papers for the first special issue

Call for Papers

 

“Mainstreaming the extreme”: political factors, social conditions and cultural perceptions propelling the far-right and neo-nationalism in Europe

Scholarly analysis of the rise of the far-right has mostly emphasized the differences between extremist and mainstream forms of right wing politics, and has thus often disregarded their interactions. Moreover, the connections between different forms of extremisms (right or left) have been investigated to an even lesser extent. Nevertheless, since the popularity of the far-right has increased in an unexpected way in Europe, some analysis of political supply as well as of social demand have proposed to examine the far-right phenomena as related to mainstream politics and discourses. This new scholarly interest has also challenged the adequacy of structural explanations of far-right phenomena focused on the objective disadvantages triggered by economic crisis or decline and on the losers of these structural processes. They added to this the examination of the ways how other social groups and categories, who still dispose of considerable capital, became touched upon, moreover, motivated by discourses of decline and fear and the promises of far-right actors to restore order in a completely different politico-cultural framework.

Studies of political culture, of media and political discourses have initiated to investigate the political visions and social perception utilized by far-right actors, as well as of the ways how they have become conceivable, moreover desired by a considerable part of society. Scholars have identified the decisive role of re-imagination of “traditional” communities against individualism and transnational identities, and of “integralist” world views as opposed to the enlightenment based visions of society; but also the controversial application of the values of European modernity (such as emancipation, tolerance etc.) against the non-European (mostly Muslim) Others. These perceptions are usually embedded in new nationalist discourses on the “endangered” cultural and moral integrity of the nation, along with discursive reifications of “annoying” or “dangerous” aliens. Though the social conditions and the history of nationalist thoughts are very different, neo-nationalisms, like far-right politics, show many similarities in different parts ofEurope, which we aim to understand here by utilizing a comparative and interdisciplinary approach.

We are inviting scholars to participate in this special issue with papers analysing political factors, social conditions, public discourses and cultural perceptions generating far-right phenomena considering the framework we propose above. Papers should be submitted by 15 November 2014, but a proposal is also required by 15 of September (to be answered within one week). The journal is committed to publish the issue after a double blind peer review process in the first quarter of 2015.

The abstract should not be longer than 2000 characters (600 words) including a short biography, a description of the empirical investigation, main questions and statements of the proposed paper. The details concerning the style and format of the manuscript can be found at the following website: intersections.tk.mta.hu where one can find important information on the journal too.