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1 Proposal for Workshop at the ECPR 30 Joint Sessions of Workshops Proposal for Workshop at the ECPR 30th Joint Sessions of Workshops Edinburgh, 2003 Defending democracy: Democratic responses to extremist challenges Giovanni Capoccia (University of Oxford, UK) Ami Pedahzur (University of Haifa, Israel) Outline of the topic and rationale The question of how can democracies defend themselves from extremist challenges has become highly relevant over the last decades. The rapid ascendance of right-wing extremism in Western Europe and in the new Eastern European democracies in recent years forced policy makers to cope with the question of how can democracy respond effectively to such threats without undermining its constitutional and moral foundations. Germany for example has started the process of banning the NPD. Is this a move that would give real protection to the German democracy? Does it correspond with democratic values? These are some of the questions that would be discussed in the workshop. Moreover, the September 11th events in the US illustrated the vulnerability of democratic regimes to new types of terrorism. One of the questions currently debated in the US and elsewhere is how can a regime counter the terrorist phenomenon effectively and still remain adhere to liberal values such as freedom of speech and the right for fair trial. These issues would also be discussed in the workshop. More precisely, the workshop will focus on two broadly defined sets of strategies of response. On the one hand, a great deal of attention will be given to the short term responses to extremism and violence, i.e. to problems such as the genesis and the political consequences of anti-extremist legislation, the scope and limits of judicial intervention, the effectiveness of accommodating policy strategies and the like. On the other hand, the workshop will try and raise the question of how can democracies protect themselves in the long run. In this respect, we will explore the role of ad hoc educational programs 1 (domestically and internationally driven) and more generally of civil society in spreading and supporting democratic values. Relation to existing research Research on ‘defending democracy’ has developed rapidly in recent years. However, the concepts and theories related to the phenomenon are still underdeveloped. The organizers of the workshop, who have been extensively involved in this field of research for several years, believe that the workshop would be a unique opportunity to bring together scholars who deal with different aspects (political, legal, moral, educational) related to the ‘defence of democracy’. With the workshop, we hope to encourage theory-building in the area and to foster the development of comparative analyses involving old and new democratic regimes. Ideally, some of the contributions to the workshop should come together in an edited volume increasing the visibility of these themes and bringing them to the attention of the community of researchers. Potential workshop participants We believe that empirical research on responses to political extremism has enormous potential for development in the coming years, not least because its implications go at the core of crucial aspects of modern politics, democratic and not. We believe our workshop to be one of the first effort to systematically bring together scholars who often meet in separate groupings. In order to encourage cross-fertilisation of ideas on the question of ‘what reactions to what extremism’, we have an extremely open and flexible approach as to what scientific background potential workshop participants should have. Our explicit intention for the first step of what promises to be a long-standing collaborative research effort is to bring together scholars from different sub-fields in political science. The expertise and the different scholarly perspectives of political theorists, constitutional and legal experts, students of democracy and democratization, scholars of political extremism and terrorism, researchers in the field of political education and socialization are all liable to offer important contributions to the overarching questions of the workshop. We also hope to attract applications from young scholars and graduate students working on the different theoretical and empirical aspects of the workshop topic. Contributions from 2 scholars from new democracies, in particular Eastern Europe, will be particularly welcome. Types of papers The workshop will not focus on analyses of extremist parties or groups in their own right, but exclusively on the responses to such challenges in democratic or quasi-democratic systems. As mentioned before, we give to ‘response’ a very broad interpretation, including both repressive and inclusive reactions, and both long- and short-term strategies (such as, for example, repressive legislation, policy negotiations and concessions, reform of national education systems/curricula, ‘external’ assistance to civil society etc.). We expect papers mainly of the following types: 1. Comparative papers, endeavouring to identify cross-temporal trends or similarities and divergences across two or more countries. Methodologically conscious Small-N analyses are preferred, but we would obviously welcome Large-N quantitative studies highlighting interesting aspects of our multi-faceted object of study. 2. Case studies, analyzing the dynamics of short and/or long-term reactions to political extremism in specific countries. A caveat: the panorama of country-specific analyses on reactions to extremism is very unbalanced, so that we have a quite a great deal of factual information on some countries, and virtually none on others. As we expect this kind of paper to be most popular in the submissions, if necessary we would give precedence to analyses of countries on which this phenomenon has received least attention in the international literature. Needless to say, case studies with broader theoretical or comparative implications will be preferred most. 3. Finally, although the focus on the workshop will be on empirical-historical analyses, we also hope to attract some theoretical and philosophical papers addressing the problems and the limits of political (in-)tolerance in the contemporary years. Funding We will both apply in due course to our respective departments to finance our travel and accommodation expenses. Both the Department of Politics and International Relations at 3 the University of Oxford and the Department of Political Science at the University of Haifa have allocations to finance conference activity of their faculty. Bibliographical references Boventer, Gregor P. (1985) Grenzen politischer Freiheit in demokratischen Staat. Das Konzept der streitbaren Demokratie in einem internationalen Vergleich. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. Brunner, Edwin E. (1965) Die Problematik der verfassungsrechtlichen Behandlung extremisticher Parteien in den westeuropäischen Verfassungsstaaten (unter vergleichender Berücksichtigung Westdeutschlands, Österreichs, Frankreich und der Schweiz). Zürich: Schulthess & Co. Cahlk Peter, 1995. “The Liberal Democratic Response to Terrorism”. Terrorism and Political Violence. 7, 4, 10-44. Capoccia, Giovanni (1999) 'Challenge, prevention and response: Game-theoretical perspectives on breakdown and survival of democracy', European University Institute, Working Papers of the Department of Social and Political Sciences #11/99, Florence. Capoccia, Giovanni (2001a) “Repression, Inclusion, Lustration, Education: How Democracies Deal with Their Enemies”, paper presented at the ECPR 29th Sessions of Workshops, Grenoble (France), April 6-11, 2001 Capoccia, Giovanni (2001b) “Defending Democracy: Strategies of Reaction to Political Extremism in Inter-War Europe”, European Journal of Political Research 39 (4), 431-460. Capoccia, Giovanni (2002) “Legislative responses to extremism. The ‘protection of democracy’ in the First Czechoslovak Republic (1920-1938)”, forthcoming in East European Politics and Societies 24 (3). Cohen-Almagor Raphael, (1994). The Boundaries of Liberty and Tolerance The Struggle against Kahanism in Israel. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. Cohen-Almagor Raphael, (1997). “Combating Right-Wing Political Extremism in Israel: Critical Appraisal”. Terrorism and Political Violence. 9, 4, 82-105. Crelinsten Ronald D. and Alex P. Schmid, (1992). “Western Responses to Terrorism: A Twenty-Five Year Balance Sheet”. Terrorism and Political Violence. 4, 4, 307-340. Doehring, Karl et al., eds (1980) Verfassungstreue im öffentlichen dienst europäischen Staaten. Berlin Farnen, Russell F. and Jos D. Meloen (2000) Democracy, authoritarianism and education. A cross-national empirical survey. London: Macmillan. Fox, Gregory H. and Georg Nolte (1995) 'Intolerant democracies', Harvard International Law Journal 36: 1-70. Gibson, James L. (1988) 'Political intolerance and political repression during the McCarthy red scare', American Political Science Review 82: 511-529. Gordon, Dan (1987) 'Limits on extremist political parties: A comparison of Israeli jurisprudence with that of the United States and West Germany', Hastings International and Comparative Law Review 10: 347-400. 4 Hudson, Michael C. (1995) 'Arab regimes and democratisation: Responses to the challenge of political Islam', in Laura Guazzone (ed.) The Islamist dilemma. The political role of Islamist movements in the contemporary Arab world, pp. 217-246. Reading: Ithaca Press. Jesse, Eckhard (1984) 'Verfassungsschutz in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland im vergleich zu anderen westlichen Demokratien', Politische Bildung
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