When analyzing the global collaboration between radical right groups, one needs to look no further than the Trump phenomenon, Brexit, and 20th-century British history. A core component, if not the core component of radical right ideology is nationalism (often described as nativism). Slogans of the radical right, be it ‘Britain first’ or ‘make America great… Continue reading “Right-Wing Nationalism Has Become A Collaborative International Enterprise”
Where left-leaning observers warn of a return of totalitarian nationalism, the far right warns of the return of socialist and communist totalitarian politics. With the rise of populist and far-right politics in Europe and beyond, the fear of the return of totalitarian politics has equally intensified. Comparisons with the rise of fascism in the 1920s… Continue reading “The Far Right Imagines a Totalitarian Other”
In October 2018, the Democratic Football Lads Alliance (DFLA) took to the streets of London in their thousands to protest against issues such as “returning jihadists” and “rape gangs”. Keen to stress they are not racists but concerned members of the public, a grassroots movement who simply want to be heard, they claim the voice… Continue reading “Catalyst or Catharsis: Inside the DFLA Secret Facebook Groups”
On Thursday, Gerard Batten, the leader of UKIP, hired Stephen Yaxley-Lennon as an adviser, a move which marked a canny awareness of the power of digital influencers to reach new audiences, and suggested an overt shift towards the far-right under the stewardship of Gerard Batten, as well as the embracement of a new digital strategy.… Continue reading “SPLIT KIPPERS: THE INCREASING POPULISM OF UKIP”
Had the referendum passed, this would have made Romania the 15th European country to include a ban on same-sex marriage in its constitution — eighth in the EU. It is easy to dismiss homophobia as a product of the alt-right, and to imagine that only extremists fear and hurt those who don’t conform to a… Continue reading “Romania Puts Homophobia on the Ballot”
This month the former head of counter terrorism policing, Sir Mark Rowley, called for politicians, the media and the public not to underestimate the threat posed by far-right groups, highlighting as an example the step-change in organisation and sophistication represented by the proscribed National Action group. This is not about being alarmist, but we have… Continue reading “Time to “wake up” to the threat of the radical right”
Ukip’s recent autumn conference saw interim leader Gerard Batten unveil a host of radical new policies, including all-Muslim prisons; restricted migration from ‘Islamic’ countries; the end of hate crime prosecution and laws which criminalise discrimination; an NHS ‘health card’ which would be denied to foreigners; and an end to ‘LGBT inclusive’ classrooms in schools. These… Continue reading “UKIP may have taken a far right turn – but it has always been a home for extremism”
Current leader of UKIP, Gerard Batten, announced recently that he would be taking the party in a new, ‘populist’ direction. Batten defines populism (rather simply but also ambiguously) as ‘policies that are popular with voters’. In their latest manifesto, however, the party’s stance on a range of issues – from the NHS to Brexit, immigration, and prisons policy – suggests not… Continue reading “Towards a new ‘populist’ party? UKIP’s interim manifesto and the future of the UK radical right”
Roger Eatwell coined the term ‘cumulative extremism’ in his influential article on community cohesion from 2006. He argued that ‘different forms of extremisms are constructed in discourse’ by extremist groups to legitimise their own activities, and also noted the ‘varieties of such interactions’. Sometimes, Eatwell argued, extremists could even identify positive features in their chosen… Continue reading “The British Extreme Right, Reciprocal Radicalisation and constructions of the Other”
Protest event analysis (PEA) is a method of quantitative content analysis with a long tradition in the study of collective mobilization. Despite its limitations,[i] it offers social scientists the opportunity to document several characteristics of protest over time and across different geographical locations. PEA defines the protest event and not the individual case study as… Continue reading “Automated event extraction tools for the study of the far-right”