ABSTRACT
Ideologies of the right, just like left-wing ideologies, have served as a basis or justifi cation for terrorist acts. Right-wing groups usually seek to conserve what exists or seek to return to some recent or distant past situation that they consider ideal. If the golden era is far enough in the past or different enough (the Nazi goals in Hitler’s Germany), the changes being sought can be revolutionary rather than simply conservative. These groups will frequently seek to support the existing institutions in society and the ruling elites or to return these elites to power and re-establish institutions. As a consequence, these ideologies have gained strength as a result of some of the changes that appeared with modernization and globalization, which have threatened existing institutions and patterns of governance. Initially, the ideologies of the right were reactive since they were opposed to changes sought by the left. When there were no groups threatening to bring about change, there was little need for groups supporting the status quo to become active. Groups seeking the restoration of monarchies could not appear until monarchies had been overthrown or were under threat. Right-wing ideologies frequently had to wait for left-wing ideologies to appear since there was no need for a defense against the left or for a reversal of changes already accomplished by the left. The use of terrorism by the right lagged behind that of left-wing groups prior to World War I because the ideologies of the right were in power as the political establishment (Laqueur 1999 : 12).
