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Angry white rebel? Study on the mechanisms and processes of participation in extreme-right groups Doctoral dissertation submitted in order to obtain the academic degree of Doctor (PhD) in the criminological sciences Academic year 2015-2016 Doctoral student: Maarten De Waele Supervisors: Guidance committee: Prof. dr. Lieven Pauwels Prof. dr. Lieven Pauwels Prof. dr. Marleen Easton Prof. dr. Marleen Easton Prof. dr. Antoinette Verhage Prof. dr. Tore Bjørgo Dr. Jaap Van Donselaar Preface 3 Preface At the start of this dissertation, I would like to take the opportunity to thank the persons involved in this work. Looking back at the past four years, it is fair to state that this PhD period has been a tremendous valuable learning experience. Therefore, it would like to start with thanking those people who gave me the opportunity to work on this project. At first, I would like to thank the person who encouraged me to apply for the PhD position, namely the supervisor of my Master thesis Prof. Dr. Em. Paul Ponsaers. In this regard, I would like to thank Paul for having confidence in my abilities. Next, I would especially like to thank my supervisor Prof. Dr. Lieven Pauwels for his guidance and tremendous support throughout my PhD. I enormously appreciate the time he has spent to support me in my learning process. Furthermore, it would also like to thank my co-supervisor Prof. Dr. Marleen Easton for the useful discussions we had and the opportunities she has given me. Subsequently, I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Antoinette Verhage for her constructive comments and her support, especially during the qualitative part of this study. Thanks to the multiple informal meetings we had during the interview phase, I was able to critically reflect on both my research findings and my position as researcher. As last member of the original guidance committee, I like to thank Dr. Jaap Van Donselaar for his wise words and tremendous encouragements at the start of my PhD. It is with great pleasure that I look back at the stimulating conversations we had in The Hague. In the absence of Dr. Van Donselaar, the guidance committee was reinforced by Prof. Dr. Tore Bjørgo. In this regard, I want to thank Prof. Bjørgo for his willingness to join the guidance committee and his challenging critiques regarding the PhD during the last meetings of the guidance committee. In addition to Paul and the members of the guidance committee, there are some people ‘outside’ the PhD whom I think should receive an ‘honourable mention’. In first instance this PhD dissertation would not have appeared without the support of my colleagues. So, thanks for all the encouraging and pleasant conversations we had over the last years. Second, I would like to thank my anonymous ‘experts on extreme-right’ for providing me with a large amount of interesting information. Next, I would like to thank my brother Karel & his wife Laurence, my friends and relatives for showing interest in my work and for being there, when I needed them the most. A special thanks goes out to my girlfriend Lana for her love and tremendous support. Thanks to her support, I was able to struggle through the most difficult period of my PhD. Finally, a heartfelt thanks goes out to my parents for their inexhaustible support and love. 4 Angry white rebel? Study on the mechanisms and processes of participation in ER groups Table of contents 5 Table of contents Preface ..................................................................................................................................................... 3 List of abbreviations ................................................................................................................................ 9 List of figures and tables........................................................................................................................ 11 Summary of the study ........................................................................................................................... 13 Samenvatting van de studie .................................................................................................................. 19 PART I: INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 25 1. Aims and research questions ........................................................................................................ 26 2. Relevance of the study .................................................................................................................. 27 2.1. Prevalence of extreme-right in Flanders ................................................................................ 27 2.2.Theoretical relevance .............................................................................................................. 31 2.3 Criminological relevance ......................................................................................................... 31 2.4 Policy relevance ....................................................................................................................... 32 3. Scope of the research .................................................................................................................... 32 3.1. The theoretical approach to radicalisation and extremism ................................................... 32 3.2. The theoretical approach to extreme-right and right-wing extremism ................................. 34 3.3. Defining the Flemish extreme-right movement ..................................................................... 35 3.4. Conceptual approach of extreme-right and right-wing extremism ....................................... 36 4. Research design and methodology ............................................................................................... 37 4.1. Research Design ..................................................................................................................... 37 4.2. Methodology .......................................................................................................................... 38 5. Research ethics .............................................................................................................................. 46 5.1. Respect for integrity, quality and transparency ..................................................................... 46 5.2. Informed consent ................................................................................................................... 47 5.3. Confidentiality and anonymity ............................................................................................... 48 5.4. Voluntary participation .......................................................................................................... 48 5.5. Preventing damage to respondents and researcher .............................................................. 48 5.6. Independent research ............................................................................................................ 49 6. Structure of the PhD ...................................................................................................................... 49 7. References ..................................................................................................................................... 50 PART II: DESCRIPTIVE PART ......................................................................................................... 57 CHAPTER 1: THE FLEMISH EXTREME-RIGHT MOVEMENT. STATE OF THE ART ................................. 57 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 58 6 Angry white rebel? Study on the mechanisms and processes of participation in ER groups 2. Defining ‘right-wing extremist orientation’ ................................................................................... 60 3. The changing focus of right-wing extremism in Flanders ............................................................. 62 3.1. A European perspective ......................................................................................................... 63 3.2. Re-emergence of Flemish nationalism ................................................................................... 64 3.3. Transition and radicalisation of Flemish nationalism ............................................................. 65 3.4. Revival of Nazism .................................................................................................................... 66 3.5. A different relationship to violence ........................................................................................ 68 4. Factors associated with involvement in extreme right wing groups ............................................ 69 4.1. Discontent .............................................................................................................................. 70 4.2. Perceived injustice .................................................................................................................. 72 4.2. Feelings of national superiority .............................................................................................. 73 4.3. Thrill-seeking behaviour ......................................................................................................... 73 4.4. Age .........................................................................................................................................

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