Public lecture - Identifying the Roots of the Reactionary Right, by Chrstopher Parker

On both sides of the Atlantic, the reactionary right has achieved political relevance. In some places, e.g., as the United States, the UK, France, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, its political power is manifest. In others, such as Germany, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands, its power is relatively latent, but may be easily mobilized. Based on my prior research in the US and Australia, I will present a theoretical and empirical approach that, despite differences in geography and national histories, illustrates why these movements are far more similar than they are different. I will also explain why the persistence of reactionary movements, and why they will be around for a very long time to come.

Christopher A. Parker (Ph.D., University of Chicago, 2001) is an associate professor, and Stuart A. Scheingold Professor of Social Justice and Political Science in the Department of Political Science at the University of Washington. He is the author of Fighting for Democracy: Black Veterans and the Struggle Against White Supremacy in the Postwar South (Princeton University Press, 2009) and Change They Can't Believe in: The Tea Party and Reactionary Politics in America (Princeton Princeton University Press, 2013, with Matt A. Barreto).