ABSTRACT
This contribution analyzes the blurred lines between the radical and extreme right by focusing on the seeming paradox of a far-right actor that actively promotes the ideal of non-violence: the Dresden-based social movement organization PEGIDA, which is the largest and most durable instance of far-right street mobilization in recent German politics. Our analysis focuses on two key dimensions to explore the tensions between radicalism and extremism, namely forms of action and ideology. We discuss the meaning and significance of the concepts of radicalism and extremism when trying to assess far-right players that employ non-violent forms of action, promote the ideal of non-violence, and portray themselves as democrats. We maintain that instead of violence and an explicit rejection of democracy, two crucial features of contemporary extreme-right politics in Germany are the dehumanization of immigrants and political opponents as well as the delegitimization of institutions and actors of real-existing democracy as “dictatorial” or “totalitarian”. The case of PEGIDA sheds light on the complexities of non-violent far-right politics beyond Germany: Established categories of radicalism and extremism in scholarship on the far right need to be further refined, especially in a political context where non-violent forms of action and the support for the idea of democracy have become dominant features across the political spectrum.
