The Rise and Fall of the English Defence League: self-governance, marginal members and the far right

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Rise and Fall of the English Defence League

T2 - self-governance, marginal members and the far right

AU - Morrow, Elizabeth A.

AU - Meadowcroft, John

PY - 2019/8/1

Y1 - 2019/8/1

N2 - What determines the success or failure of far-right organisations? This article uses new qualitative data to explain the sudden rise and subsequent decline of the English Defence League, an anti-Islamic, street protest organisation established in the UK in 2009. We explain the rise and fall of the English Defence League through the lens of the theory of collective action to show that the English Defence League initially motivated activism by supplying selective incentives that were enhanced by the participation of others. The pursuit of ‘participatory crowding’ led to indiscriminate recruitment into the organisation that enabled numbers to expand into the thousands, but ultimately caused the English Defence League’s downfall because it resulted in the presence of large numbers of ‘marginal members’ with low levels of commitment whose subsequent exit was decisively destructive. Self-governance mechanisms to ensure greater loyalty from members could have prevented the English Defence League’s decline but would also have limited its initial success.

AB - What determines the success or failure of far-right organisations? This article uses new qualitative data to explain the sudden rise and subsequent decline of the English Defence League, an anti-Islamic, street protest organisation established in the UK in 2009. We explain the rise and fall of the English Defence League through the lens of the theory of collective action to show that the English Defence League initially motivated activism by supplying selective incentives that were enhanced by the participation of others. The pursuit of ‘participatory crowding’ led to indiscriminate recruitment into the organisation that enabled numbers to expand into the thousands, but ultimately caused the English Defence League’s downfall because it resulted in the presence of large numbers of ‘marginal members’ with low levels of commitment whose subsequent exit was decisively destructive. Self-governance mechanisms to ensure greater loyalty from members could have prevented the English Defence League’s decline but would also have limited its initial success.

KW - Islamophobia

KW - activism

KW - extremism

KW - far right

KW - participatory crowding

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85048265036&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/0032321718777907

DO - 10.1177/0032321718777907

M3 - Article

SN - 0032-3217

VL - 67

SP - 539

EP - 556

JO - POLITICAL STUDIES

JF - POLITICAL STUDIES

IS - 3

ER -