Uwagi o badaniu radykalnych ruchów nacjonalistycznych
Remarks on the Study of Radical Nationalist Movements

Summary/Abstract: The article presents some dilemmas and possibilities for further research concerning contemporary radical nationalist movement (RNM) in Poland. It is a moot point whether the name "social movement" is fitting, since this label is more frequently used to describe progressive movements. Nevertheless, formal definition criteria are satisfied: RNM depends on collective action determined by certain common aims. Its ideology, centered on exclusivist mono-ethnic idea of nation, overrides internal differences, e.g. concerning the role of religion. As radical nationalist ideology is promoted by a number of political organizations, it seems vital to reach beyond formal structures and to analyze the cultural resources that form the real backbone of RNM, especially the popularization of its ideology among members of the younger generation (e.g. by means of rock music). The appearance of radical nationalist groups in the mainstream of Polish politics is analyzed in terms of political process theories, arguing that RNM's relative success was made possible not by its own merits but rather by the weaknesses of the liberal-democratic consensus that had been forged in Polish politics in the 1990s.

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