Right-Wing extremism and racism – framing and policy making in Bavaria (2024-2027)

DE

Launch of the new ForGeRex research network in January 2024! Click here (german) to learn more.

The project analyses policy making in the field of right-wing extremism and racism in Bavaria. Our approach is political science and linguistic. The aim is to gain insights into the characteristics and functioning of state policy-making. The TP works out the influence of (1) institutions and actors as well as (2) ideas and discourse patterns – framing – on policymaking. Based on this, we identify challenges and potentials in dealing with the topic area by politics and administration.

Contents

The project centres on empirical analysis.
The starting point of the investigation are two events:

1. The murders of the “National Socialist Underground” (NSU) in Bavaria (2000-2005; the “NSU” became publicly known in 2011).

2. The murders at the Olympia shopping centre in Munich (2016). The debates before and after the respective event and the subsequent policy-making (2010-2023) are analysed.
In particular, parliamentary texts from the Bavarian State Parliament (legislative branch) and documents from ministries and authorities (executive branch) are analysed. These include: sources such as the minutes of parliamentary sessions and its committees, minor and major parliamentary questions, press releases and reports from ministries and authorities.

• In the first step of the analysis, institutions and actors and their influence on policymaking are determined.
• In the second analysis step, ideas and discourse patterns – framing – and their influence on policymaking are analysed.
• In the third step, the results of the two analyses are compared, evaluated and combined. This makes it possible to describe changes in discourse patterns and actor constellations over time as well, as the interplay of ideas and institutions in policymaking. It is explained whether, how and why policymaking has changed. Success and hindrance factors for institutional learning and adaptability to new challenges thus become visible.

The results of the analysis will be categorised and discussed in various event and exchange formats. The target groups for discussion and transfer are an expert audience from parliaments, ministries and authorities as well as academia and the wider public.

The aim is to describe the potential for policy-making in Bavaria on the basis of the results of the analysis and to enable a targeted approach in the face of new challenges. In addition, possibilities and recommendations for strengthening democracy, prevention work against right-wing extremism and political education will be developed.

Backround

The project is part of the research network ForGeRex – Research Network for Contemporary Analyses, Remembrance Practice and Counter-Strategies for Right-Wing Extremism in Bavaria. Nine individual projects are analysing current manifestations and the impact of right-wing extremism in Bavaria, such as the Reichsbürger scene, right-wing extremist memes and anti-Semitic conspiracy ideologies. Supra-regional, transnational and global patterns of right-wing extremism are also analysed.

Furthermore, counter-strategies and the commitment of political and civil society actors are analysed. The aim is to better understand the phenomenon of “right-wing extremism” and dimensions such as anti-Semitism in order to develop informed and effective counter-strategies in politics and education.

The network works together on cross-cutting issues and benefits from structured work on specific questions and the exchange between projects. The project is the first to systematically record the influence of (1) institutions and actors as well as (2) ideas and discourse patterns on policy-making in the field of “right-wing extremism and racism” in Bavaria. It can therefore serve as a model for further research in other federal states and at a national level.

Team at the LMU:

Prof Dr. Klaus Goetz and Dr. Britta Schellenberg (project management),
Paulina Seelmann (research assistant and doctoral candidate in the project)

Geschwister-Scholl-Institute for Political Science
Chair of Political Systems and European Integration
Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich
Oettingenstraße 67
80538 Munich

The project runs from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2027 and is funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts as part of the ForGeRex research network.