One and the Same? An Exploration into Two Common Ideological Motivations for Lone-Actor Terror Attacks in the West Between 2010-2017

<p>Islamic extremism (IE) and right-wing extremism (RWE) are the two most common ideological motivations for perpetrating lone-actor terrorism in the West. This study explored the similarities and differences of these ideologies by coding for specific attack and personal characteristics of attacks that occurred between 2010-2017 in Western Europe, Australia, and North America. Lone-actor terrorism included attacks perpetrated by individuals, as well as isolated dyads and triads. A codebook was developed to capture the attack and personal characteristics, and data was obtained from media and other open-source reporting. The dataset included a total of 99 cases perpetrated by 102 individual actors. The study found that lone-actor attacks perpetrated by IE and RWE had increased significantly over the time period studied. Some key significant differences were found: IE were more likely to be an immigrant to the country of attack they were born in, were more likely to target civilians, and their plots or extremist activity were more visible to law enforcement and intelligence agencies, while RWE were more likely to be single, more likely to target social minorities less likely to have experienced tertiary level education or higher, less likely to have children, and are significantly older than IEs. However, for the majority of variables there were no significant differences between IE and RWE, including variables that may indicate strain in a perpetrator’s life (mental health, social isolation and experience of stressful events), indicating that overall the attacks perpetrated by individuals of the two ideologies share more commonalities than differences.</p>

One and the Same? An Exploration into Two Common Ideological Motivations for Lone-Actor Terror Attacks in the West Between 2010-2017

<p>Islamic extremism (IE) and right-wing extremism (RWE) are the two most common ideological motivations for perpetrating lone-actor terrorism in the West. This study explored the similarities and differences of these ideologies by coding for specific attack and personal characteristics of attacks that occurred between 2010-2017 in Western Europe, Australia, and North America. Lone-actor terrorism included attacks perpetrated by individuals, as well as isolated dyads and triads. A codebook was developed to capture the attack and personal characteristics, and data was obtained from media and other open-source reporting. The dataset included a total of 99 cases perpetrated by 102 individual actors. The study found that lone-actor attacks perpetrated by IE and RWE had increased significantly over the time period studied. Some key significant differences were found: IE were more likely to be an immigrant to the country of attack they were born in, were more likely to target civilians, and their plots or extremist activity were more visible to law enforcement and intelligence agencies, while RWE were more likely to be single, more likely to target social minorities less likely to have experienced tertiary level education or higher, less likely to have children, and are significantly older than IEs. However, for the majority of variables there were no significant differences between IE and RWE, including variables that may indicate strain in a perpetrator’s life (mental health, social isolation and experience of stressful events), indicating that overall the attacks perpetrated by individuals of the two ideologies share more commonalities than differences.</p>

A Biographical Perspective on Processes of Radicalisation

This article reconstructs four ideal types of biographical self-descriptions outlining radicalisation processes that are based on longitudinal biographical interviews conducted with male (former) right-wing extremists. In the first self-description, the biographers explain how they were born into radicalised families whose ideological norms and values they adopted without question. The second self-description outlines how the biographers’ actions were guided by a longing for stability and community. Initially, ideology plays a tangential role, with involvement in Kameradschaften and violence providing key momentum. In the third self-description, biographers refer to their German heritage and glorify National Socialism. They see themselves as guardians of the German Volk, and partly resort to violence to defend this idea. The fourth self-description outlines engagement with right-wing extremism as an outlet for frustrations with social discrimination. During our analysis, we examine whether any of these ideal types also correspond to self-descriptions given by Islamists, concluding that the latter do indeed describe their pathways into radicalisation in a similar manner.

Alternative Für Deutschland Strategy in 2017 Germany Legislative Election: Analysis of Posters as Visual Campaign Media

Paham Populisme-Ekstrem Sayap Kanan mengalami kenaikan di Eropa utamanya pascakrisis pengungsi 2014-2015. Krisis ini menjadi momentum bagi partai populis ekstrem sayap kanan untuk memobilisasi suara masyarakat. Di Jerman, partai Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) mendapat dukungan yang masif ketika partai memutuskan untuk berfokus pada ideologi dan kritiknya mengenai krisis pengungsi Eropa pada pemilihan legislatif tahun 2017. Salah satu cara strategi yang digunakan oleh partai adalah dengan kampanye melalui poster. Oleh karena itu, untuk menjawab pertanyaan bagaimana karakter populis ekstrem sayap kanan direpresentasikan dalam poster kampanye partai AfD, penelitian ini menggunakan konsep Populisme Sayap Kanan dan teori Strategic Political Communication yang dianalisis dengan menggunakan metode CDA untuk dapat menganalisis poster secara spesifik. Penelitian ini menyimpulkan bahwa partai AfD lebih menunjukkan karakter rasis pada poster-poster kampanyenya yang ditunjukkan oleh atribut-atribut budaya yang digunakan. Kata-kata kunci: Populisme-ekstrem sayap kanan; Alternative Für Deutschland; Krisis Pengungsi Eropa Right-wing populism-extreme views have increased in Europe, especially after the 2014-2015 refugee crisis. This crisis has become a momentum for extreme right-wing populist parties to mobilize people’s voices. In Germany, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party received massive support when it decided to focus on its ideology and criticism of the European refugee crisis in the 2017 legislative elections. One of the strategies used by the party was through poster campaigns. Therefore, to answer how the extreme right-wing populist character is represented in the AfD party’s campaign poster, this study uses the concept of Right-wing Populism and the theory of Strategic Political Communication, which is analyzed using the CDA method be able to analyze the poster specifically. This study concludes that the AfD party shows more of a racist character on its campaign posters which is indicated by the cultural attributes used. Keywords: Alternative für Deutschland, Right-wing extremism, Refugee Crisis

Why Should We Care What Extremists Think? The Contribution of Emic Perspectives to Understanding the “right-wing extremist” Mind-Set

This article considers the implications of the mainstreaming of ‘right-wing extremism’ for what, and whom, we understand as ‘extreme’. It draws on ethnographic research (2017-2020) with young people active in movements routinely referred to in public and academic discourse as ‘extreme right’ or ‘far right’. Based on interviews, informal communication and observation, the article explores how actors in the milieu understand ‘extremism’ and how far this corresponds to academic and public conceptualisations of ‘right-wing extremism’, in particular cognitive ‘closed-mindedness’. Emic perspectives are not accorded privileged authenticity. Rather, it is argued, critical engagement with them reveals the important role of ethnographic research in gaining insight into, and challenging what we know about, the ‘mind-set’ of right-wing extremists. Understanding if such a mind-set exists, and if it does, in what it consists, matters, if academic research is to inform policy and practice to counter socially harmful practices among those it targets effectively.

Conspiratorial medievalism: History and hyperagency in the far-right Knights Templar security imaginary

Imagery associated with the Knights Templar appears in the public discourse and symbolism of many white supremacist and white nationalist groups. The 2011 Norwegian mass murderer cited the Templars in his manifesto, as did the 2019 New Zealand shooter. Templar crosses were on display at the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, North Carolina. To understand the security imaginary behind these racialised medievalisms and their contemporary animation within right-wing extremism, this article develops the concept of ‘conspiratorial medievalism’. The Knights Templar imaginary blends a specific, racialised, and romanticised vision of history with the grammar of conspiracy theory. This is characterised by (a) a belief in the racialised decline and victimisation of a ‘righteous’ White Christendom; (b) a sense of threat posed by racialised Others and betrayal by insiders; and (c) an anachronistic view of near-omnipotent individual agency. Significantly, conspiratorial medievalism demonstrates an aspiration to not merely combat ‘undue’ agency of racialised Others, but to reclaim and perform extreme agency themselves. Agency is cast in the idiom of medieval chivalry and framed as the moral obligation of righteous White men. Although Knights Templar imagery may appear superficial, this article finds it is an important justificatory and enabling discourse for racist violence.