Descriptions of social movement factionalism are often based on the dichotomous conception of lawful moderates and violent radicals. In this article, we nuance this distinction by illustrating the complexity of radical flanks through an empirically grounded analysis of protest tactics, in which we ask under what conditions radical flanks are likely to use violent protest tactics. Exploring dominant explanations of political violence, the article shows the necessity of understanding the use of violent protest tactics as part of cognitive and relational processes. The use of violent tactics varies greatly across frames and protest issues, pointing to how different logics of protest are tied to different frames. Also, the use of violence is affected by the presence or absence of moderate allies; the likelihood of violence clearly decreases when radicals and moderates form coalitions when organising protests. The analysis is based on a protest event data set covering over 3,900 nonviolent and violent events by the Radical Left-Libertarian Movement in Sweden, 1997–2016. Notably, the results hold over this entire twenty-year period, suggesting that they are robust and provide a better explanation than historically contingent causes.

When the Iron Curtain lifted in 1989, it was seen by some as proof of the final demise of the ideas and aspirations of the radical left. Not many years passed, however, before the critique of capitalism and social inequalities were once again the main protest themes of social movements. This book provides an account of radical left movements in today’s Europe and how they are trying to accomplish social and political change.

The book’s international group of leading experts provide detailed analysis on social movement organizations, activist groups, and networks that are rooted in the left-wing ideologies of anarchism, Marxism, socialism, and communism in both newly democratized post-communist and longstanding liberal-democratic polities. Through a range of case studies, the authors explore how radical left movements are influenced by their situated political and social contexts, and how contemporary radical left activism differs from both new and old social movements on one hand, and the activities of radical left parliamentary parties on the other. Ultimately, this volume investigates what it means to be ‘radical left’ in current day liberal-democratic and capi- talist societies after the fall of European state socialism.

This is valuable reading for students and researchers interested in European politics, contemporary social movements and political sociology.

Termen ”extremism” har blivit vanligare inom både svensk offentlig debatt och myndighetsprosa. I sådana sammanhang är det dock sällan klart exakt vad som avses med denna term. Inte heller inom samhällsvetenskapen är begreppet extre­ mism oomstritt och inom olika forskningsfält används begreppet på olika sätt. Syftet med Adrienne Sörbom och Magnus Wennerhags artikel är att belysa extremismbegrep­ pets uppkomst och förändrade betydelse under moderniteten, samt att diskutera några av de problem som begreppet är behäftat med. Med hjälp av bland annat vetenskaps­ sociologen Thomas F. Gieryns begrepp ”gränsdragningsarbete” (boundary-work) visar Sörbom och Wennerhag hur begreppet extremism används i fältet mellan vetenskap, politik och samhällsdebatt. Författarnas huvudsakliga poäng är att begreppets utgångs­ punkt i en tydligt normativ föreställning om politiska avvikelser gör det mindre använd­ bart i vetenskapliga sammanhang, eftersom det enbart tar dessa avvikelser för givna och inte erbjuder några förklaringar om varför de uppkommer eller vilken roll de spelar i moderna samhällen. 

Two Polish cities, Warsaw and Poznań, are studied in the article to examine how external structures are handled and used by squatters in these two settings. The aim is to analyze opportunity structures that condition the emergence and development of squatting and how squatters respond to and utilize these opportunities. Our ambition is to understand why squatting has developed differently in the two cities by emphasizing the duration and cohesion of the squatting scene as pivotal for the different trajectories of squatting. It is argued in the article that the durability of the squatting environment abates tendencies to open the squatting scene to external coalitions and establish more institutionalized forms of political struggle.

Radical social movements are more and more often the subject of academic inquiry, where their agenda, identity-building processes and repertoires of action are examined vis a vis the dominant discursive opportunity structures. The case study presented in this articleis the squatting movement in Poland. We interpret this movement, its actions and in particular alliance-building strategies, through the perspective of radical flanks of broader urban social movements environment.