The relational dynamics of violence escalation and inhibition during far-right protest waves

This article examines how interactions between far-right protesters, counter-protesters and other actors, including the police, lead towards and away from violence that exceeds normal levels relative to the groups under analysis. Using four case studies (Dover, UK, 2015-16; Sunderland, UK, 2016-18; Charlottesville, USA, 2016-17; Chemnitz, Germany, 2018), the article describes a series of violence-enabling and violence-inhibiting mechanisms and discusses how this framework can be used to interrogate the violence dynamics of waves of far-right protests. The article 1) reiterates the importance of mechanisms operating at the situational level, but draws attention to how these can be understood as part of relational processes that develop across and beyond waves of contention; 2) integrates analysis of violence-enabling and violence-inhibiting mechanisms; 3) identifies important blind-spots in movement-centric relational models and proposes a solution; and 4) introduces the idea that different protest ecologies – “movement-marginalised” and “movement-emboldened” – can produce different pathways towards and away from violence.