Civic Counter-Movements: The Role of Civil Society and Community Mobilisation

It is one of the central premises of this book that far-right narratives and respective movements do not only operate on the margin of our societies but are often deeply embedded in the societal mainstream As we have started to outline in the previous two chapters, such a perspective has implications for the ways we can effectively counter the appeal of the far right. In addition to various education-based (Chapter 4) and political participation-oriented (Chapter 5) approaches, it also draws attention to the powerful role that democratic civil society actors, from formal non-governmental organisations to informal grassroots movements can play. This chapter explores the roles of civil society primarily from two perspectives: First, it examines the role of civil society organisations in promoting democracy, especially on the local level and in the context of combatting far-right extremism through government-funded programmes; and second, it explores how informal grassroots movements can help build a democratic bulwark, through counter-protests or other activities, to push back against far-right mobilisation.