Europe's New Right: Are right-wing extremists gaining a new foothold in Europe?

Skinheads and other extremists instigated more than 2,000 incidents of violence against foreigners in Germany last year, killing 17 people. Some observers worry that swastika-wearing young thugs are a sign that newly unified Germany is falling once again into the hands of xenophobic nationalists. But even such traditionally tolerant societies as Sweden and Switzerland have seen an increase in hostility toward outsiders. Rather than a return to Nazi values, today's rightward shift reflects economic problems brought on by the breakdown in the old order that enabled hundreds of thousands of Eastern Europeans to flee ethnic strife and poverty. But their arrival in the West has coincided with a severe economic recession inGermany and elsewhere, causing resentment among many frustrated citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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