Call for Contributions: “Lost in Their Words. Rewriting the Political Lexicon of the Far-Right”

Book edited by Massimiliano Livi  (Goethe Universität Frankfurt) and Sofia Miola  (Università di Pavia)

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Over the past three decades, Far-right movements across Europe and North America have undergone a profound cultural transformation. The familiar image of paramilitary violence and overt political radicalisation has not disappeared, but since the early 1990s it has been accompanied, and in many contexts partially displaced, by forms of political communication that are harder to identify and confront.

Segments of the so-called New Right – from Italy’s CasaPound to France’s Génération Identitaire, from the Austrian and German Identitäre Bewegung to Anglo-American alt-right networks – have deliberately shed the aesthetics of “old fascism” in favour of lifestyle-oriented, culturally adaptive and digitally mediated strategies (Miller-Idriss 2017; Fielitz/Thurston 2018; Strick 2021). Visual codes, subcultural aesthetics and the lingua franca of online platforms now operate alongside explicit ideological proclamation (Brunner 2021), generating affective communities (Livi 2017; Kølvraa/Forchtner 2019) and blurring the boundaries between radical and mainstream political culture (Saldivia/Völker 2026).

These developments have prompted significant debates among researchers, educators and civil-society actors. How do Far-right actors appropriate and redefine shared political vocabulary? How do concepts such as freedom, democracy, or solidarity acquire new valences as they circulate through Far-right subcultural milieus, parliamentary arenas and digital platforms? And how does the gradual sedimentation of such redefined meanings contribute to the normalisation of radical positions in mainstream political discourse?

Focusing on Italian, German, French and other historical or national contexts (Kondor/Littler 2023), the volume conceptualises the Far-right not as a fixed ideological formation but as a dynamic and transnational network sustained by flexible and often unobtrusive linguistic infrastructures. It distinguishes between far Right as an adjectival umbrella term (neo-fascist, nationalist, radical, terrorist, subversive right movement and phenomena) and Far-Right as a situational category within the broader right–left continuum (Pirro 2023; Livi 2024). The volume does not seek to replace ideological analysis with a purely linguistic approach. Ideological formations remain central to any understanding of the Far-right. Yet they become historically intelligible only when examined through the semantic and discursive processes by which they are articulated, circulated and normalised.

To this end, the volume brings together complementary analytical traditions, including conceptual history, as developed by Melvin Richter and Quentin Skinner, and discourse analysis, as advanced by Ruth Wodak (2015), with a particular focus on practices of articulation, repetition and framing.

From this perspective, keywords are approached not as isolated lexical items but as historically situated and often contested concepts whose meanings evolve across different temporal layers and national contexts. Language is understood as performative. It does not merely reflect ideological content but actively participates in the production of symbolic communities, affective bonds and regimes of plausibility.

By combining these approaches, the volume explores how far Right ideologies operate not only through explicit doctrinal statements (Gießelmann/Kerst et al. 2019) but also through the cumulative and often low-key transformation of shared political vocabulary. From this vantage point, the normalisation of radical positions appears less as a sudden rupture than as the outcome of long-term processes of semantic transformation unfolding at both local and transnational levels.

Contribution to the volume

The volume will include approximately 12 chapters, each between 4,000 and 5,000 words (including notes and bibliography). Each contribution will focus on a single keyword or recurring concept within far Right discourses. Particular attention is encouraged for terms that are not immediately recognisable as belonging to their ideological repertoire.

We are especially interested in:

• Concepts that appear neutral, technical, cultural or even progressive, yet have undergone re-semanticisation functional to Far-right legitimation strategies
• Original, clearly argued theses, not merely reconstructions of semantic change
• Analysis in relation to specific practices, actors and contexts, covering the period from the 1970s to the present, with a closer focus on transformations from the 1990s onwards
• National and transnational settings, tracing how concepts circulate through subcultures, media ecosystems and political institutions

Keywords should be analysed in relation to specific practices, actors and contexts. Particular attention will be paid to the period from the 1970s to the present, with a closer focus on the transformations that accelerated from the 1990s onwards. Contributors may examine national and transnational historical settings, tracing how their chosen concept circulates through subcultures, media ecosystems and political institutions, and how it becomes embedded in concrete communicative strategies and discursive environments.

Essays may refer to and use a variety of sources, including political speeches, manifestos, media content, social networks, literature and subcultural artefacts, in order to illuminate the semantic life of far Right discourse across time and space.

Designed for use in civic education as well as academic handbook, the volume addresses teachers, students, researchers and civil-society actors seeking to understand and confront Far-Right narratives. Therefore chapters should be accessible to both specialists and a wider educated readership.

Preliminary List of Keywords and Semantic Fields

The following list is indicative, not exhaustive. Contributors are warmly encouraged to propose additional or alternative keywords, particularly terms, concepts and semantic fields not conventionally associated with Far-right ideology or whose political implications with it are not self-evident.

Politics & Ideology Anarchy · Anti-party / A-political · Democracy · Freedom · Future · Truth

Culture & Media Football · Globalisation · Gramsci/Guevara/Pasolini · Meme · Network · Pop-Culture

Society Drugs · Life-Style · Nature · Sex · Solidarity · Women / Feminism

Religion & Civilization “Abendland” / West · Apocalypse · Europa · Province · Spirituality · Third World

Those interested in contributing a chapter should submit the following by 3 May 2026:

• A short abstract with an outline of main arguments and sources (300 words)
• 3 to 5 main bibliographical references for the abstract
• A short CV and academic affiliation (if applicable)

Contributors will be notified shortly after the submission deadline. A first online editorial meeting will be held at the end of June 2026, during which authors will briefly present their proposals (max. 15 min) and discuss the editorial orientation of the volume. A second online meeting, dedicated to peer discussion of the first drafts, will take place at the end of the year. The submission of full manuscripts and the subsequent editorial review are planned for 2027.

✉️  Contact and Submissions

For queries and submissions, please contact: Dr. Sofia Miola [email protected]

 

Main References for the Project

• Albanese, Matteo; Del Hierro, Pablo (2016): Transnational fascism in the twentieth century. Spain, Italy and the global neofascist network. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
• Benz, Wolfgang (Hg.) (1994): Rechtsextremismus in Deutschland. Voraussetzungen, Zusammenhange, Wirkungen. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch.
• Bogerts, Lisa; Fielitz, Maik (2018): “Do You Want Meme War?” Understanding the Visual Memes of the German Far Right. In: Fielitz, Maik; Thurston, Nick (Hg.): Post-Digital Cultures of the Far Right. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, pp. 137–154.
• Brunner, Georg (2021): Rechtsextremismus im Internet. Musik- und Videoclips im Portal YouTube. In: Mecking, Sabine; Schwartz, Manuela; Wasserloos, Yvonne (Hg.): Rechtsextremismus – Musik und Medien. Göttingen: V&R unipress, pp. 153–182.
• Bruns, Julian; Gloser, Katrin; Strobl, Natasha (2017): Die Identitären. Handbuch zur Jugendbewegung der neuen Rechten in Europa. Münster: Unrast.
• Brylla, Wolfgang (2020): Die Apolitisierung des deutschen Pop? Oder: Wie die Mainstream-Musik auf den Rechtsruck reagiert. In: Bryll, Wolfgang; Lipiński, Cezary (Hg.): Im Clash der Identitäten. Göttingen: V&R unipress, pp. 55–92.
• Decker, Frank; Henningsen, Bernd; Jakobsen, Kjetil (Hg.) (2015): Rechtspopulismus und Rechtsextremismus in Europa. Die Herausforderung der Zivilgesellschaft durch alte Ideologien und neue Medien. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
• Diehl, Paula (2018): Rechtspopulismus und Massenmedien. Eine explosive Mischung. In: Schellhöh, Jennifer; Reichertz, Jo; Heins, Volker M.; Flender, Armin (Hg.): Großerzählungen des Extremen. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, pp. 87–96.
• Fielitz, Maik; Laloire, Laura Lotte (2016): Trouble on the Far Right. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag.
• Fielitz, Maik; Thurston, Nick (Hg.) (2018): Post-Digital Cultures of the Far Right. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag.
• Gießelmann, Bente; Kerst, Benjamin et al. (2019): Handwörterbuch rechtsextremer Kampfbegriffe. Frankfurt/M.: Wochenschau Verlag.
• Heinze, Anna-Sophie (2020): Strategien gegen Rechtspopulismus? Der Umgang mit der AfD in Landesparlamenten. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
• Hornuff, Daniel (2019): Die Neue Rechte und ihr Design. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag.
• Kohlstruck, Michael (2014): Der Rechtsextremismus und die Mitte. In: Otten, Henrique Ricardo; Sicking, Manfred (Hg.): Kritik und Leidenschaft. Vom Umgang mit politischen Ideen. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, pp. 85–94.
• Kølvraa, Christoffer; Forchtner, Bernhard (2019): Cultural imaginaries of the extreme right: an introduction. In: Patterns of Prejudice 53 (3), pp. 227–235.
• Kondor, Katherine; Littler, Mark (2023): The Routledge handbook of Far-Right Extremism in Europe. New York: Routledge.
• Livi, Massimiliano (2017): Neotribalismus als Metapher und Modell. Konzeptionelle Überlegungen zur Analyse emotionaler und ästhetischer Vergemeinschaftung in posttraditionalen Gesellschaften. In: Archiv für Sozialgeschichte 57, pp. 365–386.
• Livi, Massimiliano (2024): Die extreme Rechte in Italien. Von den 1970er-Jahren bis heute. In: Archiv für Sozialgeschichte 63, pp. 61–91.
• Mecking, Sabine; Schwartz, Manuela; Wasserloos, Yvonne (Hg.) (2021): Rechtsextremismus – Musik und Medien. Göttingen: V&R unipress.
• Metz, Markus; Seesslen, Georg (2018): Der Rechtsruck. Skizzen zu einer Theorie des politischen Kulturwandels. Berlin: Bertz + Fischer.
• Miller-Idriss, Cynthia (2017): The extreme gone mainstream. Commercialization and far right youth culture in Germany. Princeton/Oxford: Princeton University Press.
• Miller-Idriss, Cynthia (2018): What Makes a Symbol Far Right? Co-opted and Missed Meanings in Far-Right Iconography. In: Fielitz, Maik; Thurston, Nick (Hg.): Post-Digital Cultures of the Far Right. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, pp. 123–136.
• Mudde, Cas; Rovira Kaltwasser, Cristóbal (Hg.) (2013): Populism in Europe and the Americas. Threat or corrective for democracy? Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
• Mudde, Cas (2019): The Far Right Today. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Pirro Andrea (2023), Far right: The significance of an umbrella concept in Nations and Nationalism, 1, 29 2023, pp. 101–112.
• Pfeiffer, Thomas (2021): Rechtsextremismus als Erlebniswelt. Musik, Symbolik, Bildsprache. In: Mecking, Sabine; Schwartz, Manuela; Wasserloos, Yvonne (Hg.): Rechtsextremismus – Musik und Medien, Göttingen: V&R unipress, pp. 65–84.
• Saldivia Gonzatti, Daniel; Völker Teresa (2026), Far-right agenda setting: How the far right influences the political mainstream. In: European Journal of Political Research 1, pp. 101–123
• Schilk, Felix; Probst, Hans-Ulrich; Müller-Huschke, Valerie; Ostern, Anna Rosa; Hüfner, Kilian (Hg.) (2025): Hybrider Rechtsextremismus. Hegemonie und Eskapismus in (extrem) rechten Netzwerken, Kulturen und Narrativen. Bielefeld: transcript.
• Schulze, Christoph (2017): Etikettenschwindel. Die Autonomen Nationalisten zwischen Pop und Antimoderne. Baden-Baden: Tectum.
• Strick, Simon (2021): Rechte Gefühle. Affekte und Strategien des digitalen Faschismus. Bielefeld: Transcript.
• Wodak, Ruth (2015): The politics of fear. What right-wing populist discourses mean Los Angeles, Sage.

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