Pariahs in Their Midst: Organized Extremism and the Problem of Tolerance in Contemporary Democracies

Abstract

This book addresses a crucial question of contemporary politics: how do democracies resolve the paradox of having to tolerate the intolerant in their midst? Specifically, when political “extremists”—organized into parties that compete openly and successfully in democratic elections—enter the conventional institutional arena, how do mainstream actors react? Established democracies founded on principles of free voice and open competition typically struggle with how best to cope with pariah parties that ostensibly play by the rules of the democratic game but then espouse exclusivist and rejectionist positions. Indeed, cross-national evidence demonstrates significant variation in responses to such apparently illiberal parties, from calculated disregard to outright bans. The results of those actions appear to likewise vary in dramatic ways, at some times successfully containing the perceived threat while at others seeming only to fuel its further growth. Although considerable research has already been published looking at the historical, sociological, and economic conditions that help explain the resurgence and persistence of party-based extremism (especially the far-right variant) in Western democracies, we presently know remarkably little about the relationship between democracy and efforts to combat extremism.

If an extremist group does have a substantial part of the votes, denying it representation is as silly as an ostrich’s sticking his head in the sand. It is said that “the best way to discredit a fool is to hire him a hall.” And if, as sometimes happens, a “faddist” or “extremist” turns out to be not a fool but a wise man ahead of his time, then too the best thing to do is to hire him a hall.

—George H. Hallett Jr., 1940

It’s very important for the future of the political culture here in the Czech Republic. It will set the boundaries for the political activities of extremist parties. It provides a clear distinction on what is acceptable and what is against the law, which are mostly the acts of violence but also the xenophobic rhetoric and the racist and anti-Semitic statements of the party members.

—Vojtěch Šimčcek, 2010 Head of Czech Republic’s Supreme Administrative Court, on that country’s first-ever verdict outlawing a political party