ABSTRACT

Over the last two decades the extreme right in Western Europe has taken on renewed import ance. This is evident not only in elec tion results but also in public demon stra tions and racist and polit ical viol ence. Further, extreme right groups exert influ ence on estab lished polit ical move ments, and estab lished polit ical move ments have reacted in defin able ways to that influ ence. Governments have devised a number of responses to confront prob lems of racism and right extrem ism, and amongst these, three primary strategies can be observed1:

(1) Efforts to influ ence public opinion. Governments seek to combat racism and right extrem ism by educat ing and inform ing citizens on inter-ethnic rela tions, World War II, the Holocaust and related subjects. These actions encour age people to avoid racism/right extrem ism in the first place or to turn away from them.