Organizing Nationalism: How the Radical Right Succeeds and Fails in Ukraine (Research Brief)
February 23, 2012
My research focused on how the radical right party, Svoboda (Freedom Party), develops its organizational capacity, recruits new members, and makes linkages with non-political civic groups. I interviewed party activists, members of non-political nationalist groups, NGO leaders, and political experts in three regions in Ukraine where Svoboda has varying electoral support at the local level. In addition, I attended demonstrations and other party organized events. From these data, I conclude that informal civic groups play a key role in how the party organizes and maintains support for its agenda in between election cycles.
Alina Polyakova, of the University of California-Berkeley, was a 2011-2012 Individual Advanced Research Opportunities (IARO) fellow.
