Abstract

The rise of extreme-right social movements in Europe has led to a new proliferation of studies on the subject. The growing body of research has not however resolved the ontological and epistemological problems of research on the extreme right, which significantly influence the research process and its results. In particular, there is still a lack of agreement among researchers on what the extreme right is, its defining features and the terminology to describe it. This article aims to investigate the factors that have influenced this outcome. These include the limited validity of traditional case study classification criteria, the politicisation of the research interest and the distance within the research relationship between researchers and extreme right subjects. In conclusion, future research avenues on the extreme right are outlined