Right-Wing and Right-Wing-Populist Organizations in the Networked Public Spheres in Germany and the United States of America

本研究项目将重点分析德国和美国的右翼政治边缘和政治主流之间的在线联系，识别相关组织和社区，并分析右翼民粹主义和右翼极端主义组织的跨国联系。事实上，在过去几年中，右翼运动在德国和美国变得更加流行。这些组织知道利用金融危机、难民危机或伊斯兰恐怖袭击等话题来牟利，以便在公共领域（尤其是在网上）宣传自己和他们的话题。自2012年以来，右翼民粹主义政党德国选择党（AfD），右翼公民运动Pegida和右翼激进运动Identitäre Bewegung（IB）设法在德国公共领域建立自己的行为者，并模糊了右翼边缘和主流之间的界限。与此同时，以种族主义和伊斯兰恐惧症言论而臭名昭著的右翼民粹主义者唐纳德特朗普当选美国总统，并达到了政治主流的中心。所有行为体的共同点是，它们都突出地使用互联网，利用其网站和Facebook网页传播信息，招募新成员，并与其他组织建立联系。我在哈佛大学伯克曼·克莱因互联网与社会中心进行的项目是数字方法网络分析和自动内容分析的结合，即主题建模。因此，我不仅能够识别组织和社区，而且能够识别他们的立场和主要议题。分析单位是各组织的Facebook页面和网站。例如，初步的项目结果显示，布莱巴特如何在白色民族主义博客和保守派中心之间发挥桥梁作用，甚至影响了福克斯新闻的移民报道。对于德国，初步结果为德国新选择党、Pegida和IB对德国右翼的相关性提供了经验权重，但也突出了IB与新民主党和国际右翼行为体的联系。在这个项目中，我的目标是了解在德国和美国的右翼边缘存在什么样的反政府，什么组织在中心和边缘之间架起了差距，以及哪些组织在国家边界上架起了桥梁。该项目，然后，有助于跨国网络右翼民粹主义和右翼激进主义的高度相关的问题，并照亮了反公共和公共领域之间的关系，并提供了对对立的公众的见解。该项目的扩展旨在巩固迄今为止已经进行的研究，并以基本观点（例如Facebook上的用户观点）扩展该项目。

This research project will focus on the analysis of the online connection between the right political fringe and the political mainstream in Germany and the USA, the identification of relevant organizations and communities, and the analysis of transnational connections of right-wing-populist and right-wing-extremist organizations. Indeed, in the last few years right-wing movements have become more popular in Germany and the US. These organizations knew to use topics such as the financial crisis, the refugee crisis or islamistic terror attacks for their gain in order to promote themselves and their topics within the public sphere – especially online. Since 2012 the right-wing-populist party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), the right-wing civic movement Pegida, and the right-radical movement Identitäre Bewegung (IB) managed to establish themselves as actors within the German public sphere and to blur the lines between right fringes and mainstream. At the same time, the right-wing populist Donald Trump who is infamous for racist and islamophobic remarks has been elected as US president and reached the center of the political mainstream. All actors have in common that they use the Internet prominently and use their websites and Facebook pages to disseminate information, recruit new members and connect with other organizations. This happens both nationally as well as transnationally.The project which I am conducting at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, is a combination of the digital methods network analysis and automated content analysis, namely topic modelling. I am thus not only able to identify organizations and communities but also their stance and main topics. The unit of analysis are the Facebook pages and websites of the organizations. Preliminary project results show, for example, how Breitbart acted as a bridge between white nationalist blogs and the conservative center and was even to influence Fox News’ immigration coverage. For Germany, preliminary results give empirical weight to the relevance of AfD, Pegida and IB for the German right-wing but also highlight the IB’s connectedness to the NPD and to international right-wing actors. In this project, I am aiming to understand what counterpublics exist within the German and US right fringes, what organizations bridge the gap between center and fringe, and which organizations bridge the country borders. The project, then, contributes to the highly relevant issue of transnational online right-wing-populism and right-wing-radicalism and shines a light on the relationship between counterpublics and public sphere and gives insights into antagonistic publics. This project’s extension is aimed at consolidating the research that has been conducted up to now, and at extending the project with essential perspectives (e.g. user perspective on Facebook).