Anti-government extremism – Conspiracy and delegitimization of the state Cover Image

Protivládní extremismus – konspirace a delegitimizace státu s implikací pro českou republiku
Anti-government extremism – Conspiracy and delegitimization of the state

Author(s): Štěpán Strnad, Luboš Křížek
Subject(s): Politics, Political Theory, Political Sciences
Published by: Univerzita Mateja Bela
Keywords: Anti-government Extremism;Sovereign Citizens;Conspiracy Theories;Disinformation;Political Violence;Terrorism;Radicalization;Delegitimization of the State

Summary/Abstract: Anti-government extremism in Germany may represent examples of the significant shift and growth of anti-government movements and anti-system activism in the past few years. Conspiracies and insurrections to overthrow a democratically elected government are certainly not new phenomena, but they are uncommon in consolidated Western democracies. The paper tries to convey the manifestations of delegitimization movements of sovereign citizens with an emphasis on the potential of political violence in the context of correlations of conspiracy theories and disinformation and radicalization group mobilization.Selected sovereign citizen movements are introduced based on their motivations, goals, and strategies of resistance to existing government structures.. The evaluation is done with the help of an analytical model of three dimensions of assessing the level of anti-government extremism of sovereign movements: 1. delegitimization of the democratic order, 2. offensive social action, 3. democratic norms within the sovereign movement. Expressions of coercion against public authorities, state institutions and courts in the Czech Republic copy the expressions of foreign sovereign citizen movements, including the terminology and form used. With the development of the anti-systemic scene in recent years, frustrations that have been embedded in society for a long time crystallized, among other things. Among them for example deep-rooted hostility is towards the division of Czechoslovakia among a certain part of the population. It appears a lot in the 40/50+ generation, which, by the way, is becoming the main driver of the anti-systemic discourse.

  • Issue Year: 27/2024
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 129-164
  • Page Count: 36
  • Language: Czech
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