Breeding Grounds for Radicalization: How Past Far-Right Mobilization Shapes Radicalization in the Covid-19 Pandemic
PS9-3
Presented by: Sophia Hunger
How do the German anti-containment protests in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic resonate with previous radical right mobilization? Scholarship on these protests has mostly focused on individual level determinants or on more macro-level characteristics, such as infection numbers or anti-containment policies. We situate our study on the meso-level and study whether individuals were more willing to protest where the radical right has mobilized in recent years. Using cross-sectional survey data and protest event data, we study how these structural dispositions interact and further mobilize individuals who express support for the Querdenker-movement. Exploiting the temporal dimension, we can moreover assess how these associations change over time with the further radicalization of the protests. Our findings provide insights into a recent radical protest wave in Germany and contribute to our understanding of how structural and individual factors interact in an individuals’ mobilization process.