Intro
With the Black Lives Matter movement, Black Bloc, Neo-Nazis, the Branch Dividians from Waco, the bombing of government building in Oklahoma city, the anti-abortion, environmental and back-to-nature movements, interest in radical civil society within the United States has grown overtime. Unfortunately, our understanding of these organizations is quite limited (especially when I started collecting information back in the late 1980s and early 1990s). We do not really know why they exist, where they come from, and whether or not they are growing in number. There are two principle reasons for this limitation in our knowledge:
Our inability to identify and study these organizations hinders our understanding of an important section of American society in general. Our understanding of what Americans do, in all of its variety, is impeded as we end up paying attention to only certain forms of political expression. In addition, our inability to identify and study these groups hinders our understanding of why people step out of the mainstream of democratic participation and citizenship in particular. We do not understand "extremism" (Scruton 1982):
My project is directed toward systematically identifying radical groups on both the left (i.e., those who advocate the overthrow of Capitalism and/or the US government) and right (i.e., those who "adhere to an ideology that includes: strong support for religion, intense Nationalism/Patriotism, anti-Marxism, antiliberalism, anti-social-democracy, and support for the nations that are traditional authoritarian dictatorships" [George and Wilcox 1996, 170]). While conducting research on another subject matter, Prof. Ron Francisco led me to a source that identifies all organizations on both sides of the political spectrum in the United States from 1984 to the present (the Wilcox Collection at the University of Kansas). Organizations are identified by political orientation, activity, and zip code.
This information could be used by scholars in their research of different types of socio-political phenomena (e.g., what influences the likelihood that one of these groups would exist, what is the social after-effect of having these organizations in one's geographic area). Secondly, geocoded maps will be developed for week/month, which will reveal the waxing and waning of these organizations over time.
Note: all years were not coded for I ran out of money and the methodology for organizational selection was somewhat unclear.
- 1) we generally become aware of these organizations only after something has taken place (our identification is after the fact)
- 2) these organizations frequently do not make their presence known to the public (they are sometimes quite secretive).
Our inability to identify and study these organizations hinders our understanding of an important section of American society in general. Our understanding of what Americans do, in all of its variety, is impeded as we end up paying attention to only certain forms of political expression. In addition, our inability to identify and study these groups hinders our understanding of why people step out of the mainstream of democratic participation and citizenship in particular. We do not understand "extremism" (Scruton 1982):
- 1) Taking a political idea to its limits, regardless of unfortunate repercussions, impracticalities, arguments, and feelings to the contrary, and with the intention not only to confront, but to eliminate opposition
- 2) Intolerance toward all views other than one's own.
- 3) Adoption of means to political ends which show disregard for the life, liberty and human rights of others.
My project is directed toward systematically identifying radical groups on both the left (i.e., those who advocate the overthrow of Capitalism and/or the US government) and right (i.e., those who "adhere to an ideology that includes: strong support for religion, intense Nationalism/Patriotism, anti-Marxism, antiliberalism, anti-social-democracy, and support for the nations that are traditional authoritarian dictatorships" [George and Wilcox 1996, 170]). While conducting research on another subject matter, Prof. Ron Francisco led me to a source that identifies all organizations on both sides of the political spectrum in the United States from 1984 to the present (the Wilcox Collection at the University of Kansas). Organizations are identified by political orientation, activity, and zip code.
This information could be used by scholars in their research of different types of socio-political phenomena (e.g., what influences the likelihood that one of these groups would exist, what is the social after-effect of having these organizations in one's geographic area). Secondly, geocoded maps will be developed for week/month, which will reveal the waxing and waning of these organizations over time.
Note: all years were not coded for I ran out of money and the methodology for organizational selection was somewhat unclear.
Data
- Radical Left, 1969=1988
- Radical Right, 1970-1983