ABSTRACT
This chapter elaborates on the theoretical ambition of this book, which is to reconcile the analysis of responses to the radical right with policy studies. This chapter shows that previous literature provides only limited insights into the perceptions of actors and the motivation of their actions. By focusing on policy responses to right-wing radicalism, and consequently excluding party strategies from the scope of this book, this chapter presents the tenets of an empirical research that explored the perceptions of policy-makers such as the police, the intelligence service, magistrates from the administrative and criminal justice systems, educative state actors, and non-state actors. This analysis mostly relies on 80 semi-structured interviews conducted in France and Germany between 2013 and 2017. Since this book presents a qualitative field research conducted in the same terms in France and Germany, this chapter also analyses the methodological difficulties (i.e. conducting interviews on a sensitive issue such as the regulation of political radicalism).
