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The Rise and Fall of the English Defence League: Self-Governance, Marginal Members and the Far Right

The Rise and Fall of the English Defence League: Self-Governance, Marginal Members and the Far Right 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. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Political Studies SAGE

The Rise and Fall of the English Defence League: Self-Governance, Marginal Members and the Far Right

Morrow, Elizabeth A; Meadowcroft, John
Political Studies , Volume 67 (3): 18 – Aug 1, 2019
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Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2018
ISSN
0032-3217
eISSN
1467-9248
DOI
10.1177/0032321718777907
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

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.

Journal

Political Studies – SAGE

Published: Aug 1, 2019

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