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右翼政治边缘与政治主流之间的在线联系，相关组织和社区的识别，以及右翼民粹主义和右翼极端主义组织的跨国联系分析。事实上，过去几年，右翼运动在德国和美国变得更受欢迎。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谋取利益，以便在公共领域--特别是在网上--宣传自己和自己的主题。自2012年以来，右翼民粹主义政党德国新选择党(AfD)、右翼公民运动Pegida和右翼激进运动Igntäre Bewegung(IB)成功地将自己确立为德国公共领域的参与者，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，并达到政治主流的中心。所有行为者的共同之处是，他们突出地使用互联网，并利用其网站和Facebook页面传播信息、招募新成员并与其他组织联系。我在哈佛大学伯克曼·克莱恩互联网与社会中心进行的这个项目，是数字方法网络分析和自动内容分析(即主题建模)的组合。因此，我不仅能够确定组织和社区，而且还能够确定它们的立场和主要议题。分析单位是各组织的脸书网页和网站。例如，初步项目结果显示，布莱巴特如何在白人民族主义博客和保守派中间派之间架起桥梁，甚至影响福克斯新闻的移民报道。对德国来说，初步结果给予德国新选择党、Pegida和IB与德国右翼的相关性经验性权重，但也突显了IB与NPD和国际右翼行为者的联系。在这个项目中，我的目标是了解德国和美国的右翼边缘存在哪些对立面，哪些组织弥合了中间和边缘之间的差距，哪些组织弥合了国家边界。因此，该项目有助于解决跨国网络右翼民粹主义和右翼激进主义这一高度相关的问题，揭示反政府机构和公共领域之间的关系，并深入了解敌对的公众。该项目的扩展旨在巩固到目前为止已经进行的研究，并以基本观点(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).