Political Extremism Scholar: "The Hate is There, but the Violence is Absent"
Since the terrorist attack on 22 July 2011, Lars Erik Berntzen has dedicated much of his time to studying far-right actors in Europe.
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Lars Erik Berntzen is an associate professor at the Department of Government (幸运飞艇计划) and his research focuses on political extremism.
He explains that the far right has expanded significantly over the past 25 years.
"We distinguish between right-wing radicals and right-wing extremists. Right-wing extremists are those who embrace violence and see it as a legitimate means. Right-wing radicals try to change the system through democratic channels and are semi-loyal to the democratic regime," he says.
The overall picture is that the growth is on the right-wing radical side, Berntzen explains.
"In Western Europe, the growth has been among anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim actors, either among parties, activist groups, or in the form of alternative news blogs and websites. Many of them have gone through a form of radicalization process, where they embrace more and more extreme and totalitarian solutions, such as deportation, rewriting the Quran, and closing mosques. But they do not advocate the abolition of democracy or direct use of violence," he says.
The level of violence has not increased in Western Europe since the 1990s, according to Berntzen.
"The overview we have now suggests that there has been a slight downward trend," he says.
A lot has changed in this area though. Today, it is middle-aged or older men who are responsible for the majority of the violence on the far-right.
鈥淚t鈥檚 gone from street based, young environments, with neo-Nazi's, skinheads, and such to more isolated individuals who are less visible outside of online subcultures. This makes it harder to monitor them now," he says.
Influential Master's Thesis
When terror struck Norway on 22 July 2011, it became evident that there was a lack of updated knowledge about this type of extremism in Norway. But coincidentally, Lars Erik Berntzen had submitted a master's thesis at 幸运飞艇计划 just a few months earlier, that suddenly became highly relevant.
The master's thesis was the first study that specifically addressed far-right mobilization against Muslims and Islam in Norway.
"At that time, no one had studied these groups. The focus before was on the neo-Nazi environments in the 1990s and early 2000s. The thesis was interview-based, and I wrote about anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim activism. Suddenly, I was contacted by many 鈥� including The Norwegian Police Security Service, who actively used it as a resource," Berntzen says.
And so his research career began.
"Everything I have done since has been indirectly related to what happened on 22. July 2011. I have studied the actors, violent subcultures on the internet, the political movements around, radicalization processes, and political violence," Berntzen says.
Exploring the Corners of the Internet
Berntzen completed his Ph.D. in Florence, at the European University Institute. Here he continued to map the far-right.
"It was real detective work trying to get an overview of the spread of the anti-Islamic movement and the transnational networks of the individual groups. I looked at the development over time and what motivated them," Berntzen says.
"The main theory about Anders Behring Breivik is perhaps that he drew inspiration from the broader non-violent far-right movement and took it in a violent direction, even though the movement itself is not violent," he says.
After 22 July, there was a fear of a form of mass radicalization 鈥� a mutual cycle of violence that would take off in Western Europe. In the years following the terrorist attack, Berntzen followed actors who many thought might show support and sympathy for Breivik.
"As part of a ten-year collaborative project with Jacob Ravndal in Oslo, we mapped and explored the corners of the internet for support for Breivik. What we have seen very clearly is that he receives almost no support in Western Europe," Berntzen says and continues:
"There are only a few scattered bloggers. We are talking about maybe 30-40 people scattered across Western Europe. We did however find significant support for Breivik both in Russia and within the online school massacre subculture in the USA."
Interested in Attitudes and Norms
In addition to being an associate professor at 幸运飞艇计划, Berntzen is affiliated with the Center for Research on Extremism at the University of Oslo, which was established in the wake of 22 July.
"We knew far too little about these phenomena in 2011, but since then, a lot of expertise has been built up in Norway, and the research field has developed significantly," Berntzen says.
Actors on the far-right wing have largely condemned Anders Behring Breivik as a monster and distanced themselves.
"It is difficult to say for sure what explains the lack of breakthrough for Breivik in Western Europe, while he has received much greater support in Russia. One possible explanation is that the norms against political violence vary significantly between regions. What is strongly taboo in Western Europe is not necessarily the same elsewhere," he says.
With this backdrop, Berntzen has in his recent research shifted more towards looking at attitudes and norms in the population related to democracy and political violence. Going forward, he is interested in digging into some fundamental social science questions:
"For example, does it matter what attitudes you have towards violence? It is a very elementary question. Most people might say yes. But it is something we actually do not have much information about," he says.
"I am interested in finding out more about what people are willing to do to stand up against perpetrators of violence and those who flirt with violence. The research after 22 July has led me there. Violence used to be an enormous problem in Europe. Democracy can be seen as a form of non-violent conflict resolution. I find it exciting to delve into this connection and zoom in on democracy," he says.