Introducing the Far-Right Power Index

To usher in a path towards a better understanding of far-right organisations, this paper introduces the Far-Right Power Index.

The basic idea behind the Index is to quantify qualitative data on far-right organisations. This effort arose in a context where these organisations are growing in number, evolving, developing ties with foreign counterparts, and sometimes getting institutionally entangled with mainstream parties via state-patronage links.

The Index seeks to build on methodological solutions that will eventually lead to evidence-based research, allowing its application and in-depth analysis in any geographical area, most notably in democratic systems - whether consolidated, semi-consolidated or hybrid regimes.

The following sections outline how the Index works and provides guidelines for deeper levels of analysis.

Methodology of the Power Index

Illustration: BIRN/Igor Vujicic

The Index provides unique insight into how different far-right organisations fare in reality. The underlying premise of the methodology is that "power" is a complex phenomenon, often impossible to directly assess in the far-right organisational context.

For that reason, the Index uses an inductive approach, breaking down the power phenomenon into separate but interconnected categories, each recognised as a crucial and defining element that tells a part of the story.

The methodology comprises the following categories: popular support for these organisations; their resilience in terms of their continuity, tenacity, and robustness; political participation, as a way for these organisations to acquire stronger political weight; foreign ties made; and state patronage - illustrating that sometimes the state and these...