ABSTRACT
The concept of cumulative extremism has become the focus of an increasing amount of work conducted by scholars, policymakers and journalists since it was first coined by Roger Eatwell in 2006. While our understanding of the concept has undoubtedly increased with these efforts, it has been widely acknowledged that more work is necessary to develop it into a robust tool for understanding the interactive dynamics between groups which can cause the escalation, non-escalation or de-escalation of movement–countermovement contests. To that end this chapter will conduct a sustained analysis of the interactions that occurred between anti-fascists and fascists in Britain during the 1970s, playing close attention to the specific factors which led to the development of more or less radical protest repertoires among these groups.
