From Baking Competitions To Forced Repatriations: Patriotic Alternative And The Hybridity Of The Radical Right

Abstract

Today, Patriotic Alternative is Britain’s largest and fastest growing radical right group. This article presents evidence in support of Patriotic Alternative being a highly original and innovative radical right group that is demarcated by its hybridity: one that brings together both authentic and inauthentic forms and ideologies of traditional nationalism. Having set out the research design, this article begins with an exploration of the origins, formation and leadership of Patriotic Alternative. From here, it does the same in relation to its ideology and activism. Next, Patriotic Alternative’s hybridity is considered in an attempt to better understand how, as a radical-right group, it combines authentic forms of traditional nationalism with newer, wholly contemporary – and thereby inauthentic – forms. Lastly, a number of conclusions are drawn about the potential future trajectory of Patriotic Alternative as also the British radical right and extreme right-wing more generally. Given Patriotic Alternative has been subjected to little if indeed any scholarly inquiry to date, this article makes a timely and much needed scholarly contribution.