The Berkeley Center for Right Wing Studies (CRWS) is an interdisciplinary academic research center at the University of California, Berkeley, focused on studies of right-wing politics. It is housed at the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues (ISSI). It was founded in 2009, originally as the Center for the Comparative Study of Right-Wing Movements.^[1]

The CRWS researches right-wing movements in the 20th and 21st centuries,^[1] and is one of the first institutions in the United States dedicated to scholarly research and analysis of right-wing politics and movements.^[2]

Mission

The CRWS was founded in 2009 and describes itself as having two missions: "first, to identify right-wing movements, flesh out their twentieth-century histories (how they aligned and how they survived) while isolating their novel aspects in the 21st century; and second, to develop and apply principles of how right-wing thought, ideology and organizational capacities operate to understand the state of the contemporary Right and identify its likely directions and successes."^[1]

The founding of the CRWS has been described by its founder, Lawrence Rosenthal, as being motivated by the diversification of right-wing movements after the Cold War, and because the center feels it is an understudied area.^[2] Its research focuses on the past hundred years and likely future directions of right-wing movements, and studies these movements and ideologies across history and transnationally.^[3] Its activities and programs include "publishing research findings, organizing working groups for faculty and graduate students, offering mini-grants to support undergraduate and graduate student research, providing fellowships and training opportunities to Berkeley students, and planning conferences, colloquia, and other public events" to support its mission.^[3]

The CRWS also publishes a journal, the Journal of Right-Wing Studies (JRWS).^[4] The CRWS and JRWS describe themselves as nonideological, and hope to influence "journalism, activism, and public policy."^[4]

The CRWS has been cited in The New York Times,^[5] ABC News,^[6] as well as the Huffington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle. "The extent in which we have become a kind of indispensable resource following things like the alt-right has been very significant," said Rosenthal.^[7]

Funding

The CRWS was founded with a $777,000 anonymous donation in 2009.^[2] It is funded entirely by private donations.^[1]

In response to an email from The Daily Californian, a UC Berkeley student newspaper, Lawrence Rosenthal ^[7] said the donations vary in size, and that "Most are from Cal alums. We also receive funding for specific projects from foundations and non-profit organizations."

Programs

The CRWS supports interdisciplinary research on various facets of right-wing movements, ideologies, and actors in the U.S. and internationally. Its work includes operating a journal; the development and management of relevant archives; hosting symposia, conferences, and colloquia; and offering training and research opportunities to Berkeley students.^[1]

Archives

The CRWS is actively building a multimedia archive of audio, video, and print materials on the right-wing, and makes these materials available to scholars and the public.^[8]

As of 2024, this includes:^[8]

• John Birch Society and Related Audio and Visual Recordings
• a Bibliography of academic theses and dissertations on the American right-wing
• a FBI FOIA archive of radical right-wing groups and individuals
• a collection of KKK newspapers
• Ephemera and recordings of conservatives from People For the American Way, a progressive advocacy group founded by Norman Lear

Student Engagement

The CRWS "offers mini-grants, fellowships and training opportunities to Berkeley students."^[1] This has included work creating and maintaining the above archives through undergraduate work. Then senior Hollis Potts worked on "digitization of a variety of FBI materials, including memos, newsletters and pamphlets" and, then junior Kelly Jones worked on a proposal to "summarize and catalog rare audio and visual recordings from the John Birch Society" in 2018.^[7]

Journal

Launched in 2023,^[9] the Journal of Right-Wing Studies (JRWS) is an open access academic journal operated by UC Berkeley's Center for Right-Wing Studies.^[4]

People

The Center for Right-Wing Studies is chaired by Lawrence Rosenthal, and its Faculty Advisory Board is composed of Paola Bacchetta, Troy Duster, Carole Joffe, Michael Omi, William Russell Ellis, and Kim Voss. ^[10]

Reactions and criticism

The CRWS has drawn both praise and criticism^[11][12] since its founding.^[9] The critiques have primarily revolved around accusations of political bias and activism. However, the CRWS has also been praised for its awareness of possible issues, and that because its contributors and staff are not right-wing, they therefore understand their own bias.^[9]

After the inaugural edition of the JRWS, the center and journal were criticized for a round-table of scholars focused on the subject who called for monitoring censorship, and banning of politics "hostile to liberal democracy"; descriptions of the right as "racist, sexist, xenophobic, heteronormative" and more..^[9][11]

From Roger Griffin:^[13]

"far more effort should be devoted to building bridges and networks connecting academic research into the illiberal right and counter extremism policies or laws to investigation by security forces, governmental and nongovernmental agencies, and foreign policy officials, both at a national and international level,"

"a greater alignment of academic with state intelligence in understanding the illiberal right, both secular and religious, whether in antistate or state manifestations, is a proactive policy to inform the official media about what terms such as 'the right,' 'populism,' and 'fascism' actually mean&"

"Even more utopianly, I would welcome an international initiative led by academics and state agencies concerned with 'the right' to call for the creation in every liberal democracy of an official body conceived on the lines of the German 'Office for the Defense of the Constitution' (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz) - a committee of state and academic experts whose job it is to monitor politics hostile to liberal democracy, whether within or against 'the system.' This would enable genuine fascist formations or undertakings - such as neo-Nazi revisionism and organizations with demonstrable links with, or roots in, the extreme secular or religious right - to be monitored, exposed, and banned as illegal."

CRWS response

The CRWS and JRWS maintain that they are "nonideological."^[4] Faculty advisory board member Paola Bacchetta has maintained that the political views of its researchers are irrelevant: "We're not a political organization."^[2] Christine Trost, then academic coordinator of the CRWS, stated "We do not have a political agenda. Our mission is scholarship".^[7]

References

External links

• Berkeley Center for Right-Wing Studies (CRWS) homepage
• CRWS Archives and Resources
• Journal of Right-Wing Studies website
• CRWS twitter