Europe's Fault Lines: Racism and the Rise of the Right

By Elizabeth Fekete

An expansive investigation into the relationship between contemporary states and the far-right

It is clear that the right is on the rise, but after Brexit, the election of Donald Trump and the spike in popularity of extreme-right parties across Europe, the question on everyone’s minds is: how did this happen?

An expansive investigation of the ways in which a newly configured right interconnects with anti-democratic and illiberal forces at the level of the state, Europe’s Fault Lines provides much-needed answers, revealing some uncomfortable truths.

What appear to be “blind spots” about far-right extremism on the part of the state are shown to constitute collusion—as police, intelligence agencies and the military embark on practices of covert policing that bring them into direct or indirect contact with the far right, in ways that bring to mind the darkest days of Europe’s authoritarian past.

Old racisms may be structured deep in European thought, but they have been revitalised and spun in new ways: the war on terror, the cultural revolution from the right, and the migration-linked demonisation of the destitute “scrounger.” Drawing on more than three decades of work for the Institute of Race Relations, Liz Fekete exposes the fundamental fault lines of racism an tarianism in contemporary Europe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jun 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781784787257

Elizabeth Fekete

Liz Fekete is Director of the Institute of Race Relations, where she has worked for over thirty years. She heads its European Research Programme (ERP) and is an Advisory Editor to its journal Race & Class. She is the author of A Suitable Enemy: Racism, Migration and Islamophobia in Europe.

Reviews for Europe's Fault Lines

[brianfergusonwpg-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In recent decades, Neo-liberalism* has been and is still, culpable in fomenting and normalizing the epidemic of right-wing extremist terrorism and its accompanying assumption of power by overtly fascist political parties. It is no longer to be conjectured whether this is merely tin-foil. We witness double standards in how we classify acts of sedition, whether it be from within or without the state, based solely on race and culture. Ultimately, whether we dismiss this or not, one way or the other, this will affect the quality of life of each and every one of us. The security apparatus is a burgeoning trans-national industry. The stats are drawn from the member as well as certain former member-states of the European Union, but I think the conclusions could equally apply to countries on this side of the pond, where ascertaining dimensions of the problem are about to become that much more difficult. A nice reference book, which will be much needed!*center-left and right parties that solely favour market-driven economics