Right-wing Terrorism Research Articles

Perceived injustice, perceived group threat and self-reported right-wing violence: An integrated approach

AbstractThe present study seeks to explain individual differences in self-reported politically motivated violence and vandalism, and participation within an extreme right-wing group. While violent extremism is highly debated, few criminological studies explicitly test factors that can trigger violent extremism. The present study addresses this gap by integrating two different frameworks: a perceived injustice and group threat-initiated model and an impulsivity-initiated model. We also investigate several intervening mechanisms. We draw on a sample of 705 adolescents and young adults living in Flanders, Belgium to test the strength of direct and intermediary effects of perceived injustice, perceptions of out-group threat from Jewish populations, ethnocentrism, feelings of superiority, moral support for right-wing extremism, and exposure to racist peers on politically motivated violence and vandalism. Results of structural equation models (SEM) indicate various direct and intermediary effects between both perceived injustice and violent extremism, and between impulsivity and violent extremism. Our model reveals the complex and intricate antecedents of violent extremism. Importantly, we find that feelings of injustice and unfair treatment are a major source of extremist violence, as they easily trigger often debated causes such as high in-group identification and ethnocentrism. Implications of these findings for preventing violent extremism are discussed, given the centrality of perceptions of injustice and threat.

Terrorism Studies and the Far Right – The State of Play

Terrorism Studies as a specific area of research came to prominence in the aftermath of the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA, but had existed across a range of disciplines long before albeit as a less consolidated and certainly less visible subject area. However, despite the existence of a body of work on terrorism, the impact of 9/11 on western perceptions of terrorism ensured that the direction of study was firmly focused on Islamic extremism for many years after the attacks. It is only very recently that significant attention has been focused on other ideologically motivated extremisms, namely the Far-Right. This article examines the nature of research into the Far-Right in the field of terrorism studies and examines what we mean when we refer to the Far-Right, and to what degree the field of terrorism studies has attended to this form of ideological extremism over the past two decades. In order to achieve these aims, this article presents an analysis of the academic publications concerned with the Far-Right produced in three Terrorism Studies journals: Terrorism and Political Violence, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism and Critical Studies in Terrorism. The results demonstrate that between 2001 and 2018 only 41 articles exclusively focus on the Far Right, and of these only 6 use primary data in their analysis. The results of a content analysis carried out on these 41 articles provides an insight into the research trajectory on the Far Right. Ultimately the results of the rapid appraisal and the content analysis speak to the extent to which and nature of how Far-Right terrorism is attended to in the field of Terrorism Studies.

Let’s not put a label on it: right-wing terrorism in the news

ABSTRACT Media portrayals of terrorism, particularly right-wing terrorism, have been understudied. In response, this study focuses on understanding how right-wing terrorism is portrayed by the New York Times and the Washington Post. A qualitative content analysis was conducted on five cases. Framing theory and thematic analysis were used to inform the research methods. Four main themes emerge: “officially, we cannot be sure this was terrorism”; “just a man – the obfuscation of motive”; “on normalisation and humanisation”; and “eventually we have to talk about gun policy.” The results show that the news providers did not label these cases as terrorism, and that the ideology of the attackers was minimised as a motive. By searching so extensively for “other reasons” for the violence, the threat of right-wing violence was minimised. As a result of these incomplete or misleading portrayals, the threat from these individuals goes unchecked.

Affective Dynamics of Excitable Speech in Milo Rau’s Breiviks Erklärung and Mitleid

Robert Walter-Jochum reflects on the successes and failures of Milo Rau’s stage explorations of hate speech, investigating what Judith Butler terms “restaging and resignifying.” Walter-Jochum references two of Rau’s performances: Breivik’s Statement and Compassion: The History of the Machine Gun. Both pieces highlight the hypocrisy and similarities of rhetoric from right-wing terrorists and liberals with seemingly good intentions. Breivik’s Statement restages hate speech with an actor of color inverting the meaning of the speech, while Compassion restages a woman of color refugee reflecting on her childhood, while a white woman contemplates her time volunteering in the Congo. Walter-Jochum dissects each monologue, analyzing deeper meaning in Rau’s projects.

An Attack against Us All? Perceived Similarity and Compassion for the Victims Mediate the Effects of News Coverage about Right-Wing Terrorism

Right-wing terrorism (RWT) poses an increasing threat to Western societies, with perpetrators targeting diverse members of society. We investigated the affective and attitudinal outcomes of exposure to news about RWT, depending on the victims’ religious affiliation (Christian vs. Muslim). Results of a quota-based experiment in [Austria; predominantly non-Muslim] (N = 315) revealed no direct effects of the victims’ religious affiliation on affective and attitudinal outcomes. However, mediation analyses suggest that, compared to Muslim victims, Christian victims elicit higher perceived similarity, which in turn, impacts compassion. Similarity and compassion then significantly predict affective and attitudinal outcomes. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Political Competition and Right-Wing Terrorism: A County-Level Analysis of the United States

While many previous studies on U.S. right-wing violence center on factors such as racial threat and economic anxiety, we draw from comparative politics research linking electoral dynamics to anti-minority violence. Furthermore, we argue that the causes of right-wing terrorism do not solely rest on political, economic, or social changes individually, but on their interaction. Using a geocoded, U.S. county-level analysis of right-wing terrorist incidents from 1970 to 2016, we find no evidence that poorer or more diverse counties are targets of right-wing terrorism. Rather, right-wing violence is more common in areas where “playing the ethnic card” makes strategic sense for elites looking to shift electoral outcomes: counties that are in electorally competitive areas and that are predominantly white.

Investigating the Effects of Right-Wing Terrorism on Government Satisfaction: A Time Course Analysis of the 2019 Christchurch Terror Attack

We examine political attitude change using data from a large national probability sample collected over the months leading up to, and following, the 2019 March 15 terror attacks against a Muslim minority community in Christchurch, New Zealand. Satisfaction with the government declined in the months prior to the attack, rose sharply immediately following the attack, and returned to pre-attack levels roughly 3 months after the attack. Support for the ruling centre-left Labour party followed a similar trend, whereas centre-right National party support was unchanged. These results provide valuable comparison to studies focusing on the effects of Islamist attacks, and insight into the time-course of attitude change by examining the effects of far right terrorism toward a minority community.

Attacking the Weak or the Strong? An Experiment on the Targets of Parochial Altruism

Studies on parochial altruism have insofar focused on the causes leading individuals to attack any outgroup on the behalf of one’s group. Yet, we lack clues to understand why parochial altruists target specific groups, such as dominant groups in some contexts and minority groups in others. The present paper introduces an experiment to analyze the conditions under which individuals costly attack strong versus weak outgroups. In a first study, 300 participants played a repeated Inter-group Prisoner Dilemma involving multiple groups and inter-group differences in resources. Results show that individuals have a preference for targeting strong outgroups, but that attacks decrease when the inequality in destructive capacity between groups is high. Besides, individuals target weak outgroups when they are threatening their ingroup status. Decisions in the game correlate with participants’ political ideology and Social Dominance Orientation. In a second study, we provide evidence that our results generalize to historical linkages between economic inequality and left-wing versus right-wing terrorist attacks.

Counterterrorism legislation and far-right terrorism in Australia and the United Kingdom

Over the past two decades, since the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, a number of countries have enacted new laws tailored specifically to the threat posed by Islamic extremist terrorism. This includes recent legislation that has criminalised behaviour associated with ‘foreign terrorist fighters’, such as the act of travel to, or fighting in, foreign conflicts. This legislative response reflects the enactment of earlier laws, with measures designed for prior iterations of the contemporary Islamic extremist terrorist threat, such as control orders and preventative detention orders, prohibitions on extremist speech and disseminating terrorist propganda and the criminalisation of terrorist training. Yet despite the focus on Islamic extremist terrorism, this is not the only terrorist threat that Western democracies face. The rise of far-right terrorism in recent years has, however, not seen the same recourse to new legislation as has been the case for Islamic extremist terrorism. Using Australia and the United Kingdom as case studies, this article assesses the extent to which counterterrorism legislation has been used to deal with the particular threat posed by far-right terrorism. In doing so, it evaluates the lessons that might be learned from applying counterterrorism legislation designed for one particular terrorist threat to other types of terrorism.

The psychology of right-wing terrorism: A text-based personality analysis.

The psychology of right-wing terrorism: A text-based personality analysis.

Leaking in terrorist attacks: A review

Abstract In the recent past, the numbers of religiously- and politically-motivated terrorist attacks have increased, inevitably raising the question of effective measures to prevent further terrorist attacks. Empirical studies related to school shootings have shown that school shooters reliably (directly and indirectly) disclosed their intentions or plans prior to the attack, a phenomenon termed leaking or leakage. Leaking has been used for preventive purposes in this area of research. Recent research has indicated that leaking was also present prior to politically and religiously motivated terrorist attacks. In order to determine the current state of knowledge about leaking related to these offenses, we conducted a review of the international literature on religiously and politically motivated terrorist attacks. Up to 90% of the offenders showed some type of leaking prior to the attacks. A range of different forms of leaking could be observed. Leaking often occurred in the form of verbal communication with family and friends and/or via communication over the Internet. Terrorist offenders apparently tend to show leaking more often than other groups of mass murderers. Findings regarding similarities and dissimilarities in leaking between religiously motivated, jihadist and politically-motivated, far-right terrorist attacks were contradictory. We discuss the implications of these findings for practice and research as well as the strengths and possible weaknesses of the leaking concept.

An exploration of right-wing extremist incidents in Atlantic Canada

ABSTRACT The study of Canadian right-wing extremism from a security context is in its infancy, with only a handful of empirical and theoretical studies emerging on the topic within the last decade. With the increase of right-wing extremism violence in Canada such as the 2014 Moncton shooting and the 2017 Quebec City mosque attack, there is a pressing need to better understand the breadth, depth, and extent of Canadian right-wing extremism. The current paper presents the preliminary findings from a larger cross-Canadian research project on right-wing extremism and focuses exclusively on Atlantic Canada (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland & Labrador, and Prince Edward Island). A comprehensive scoping of open-source documents of right-wing extremist incidents in Atlantic Canada from January 2000 to December 2019 and their related attributes were compiled into a dataset, and then used to explore the distribution, breadth, type, and extent of right-wing extremist activity in the Maritime provinces. Given the focus of previous research upon urban aspects of Canadian right-wing extremism, and that Atlantic Canada is more rural in comparison to the rest of Canada, the breakdown of occurrences of different types of right-wing extremist activities based upon rurality are also examined.

Right-Wing Waves: Applying the Four Waves Theory to Transnational and Transhistorical Right-Wing Threat Trends

ABSTRACT The increasing global prominence of right-wing extremism and terrorism has been noted by scholars and government agencies alike. While right-wing terrorism has been documented throughout postwar history, groups have evolved, resulting in diverse materializations of violence perpetrated on behalf of varying ideologies and perceived threats. This paper draws upon Campion’s research into Australian right-wing extremism and terrorism, where three ideological threat narratives were identified. The aim of this research was to determine the applicability of Rapoport’s “wave” theory to the international evolution of extreme right-wing activity. In doing so, Campion’s framework is utilized and a case study analysis undertaken, investigating anti-communist, anti-immigration and anti-Islamic rhetoric on a transnational and transhistorical basis. It is argued that waves are found internationally, and that Rapoport’s model is therefore applicable to the right-wing milieu. The paper concludes that the extreme right is on the cusp of the next wave and discusses trends that may inform those in a position to counteract the forthcoming wave of activity. There remains a need for law enforcement and security agencies to monitor right-wing extremism and terrorism activity to remain attuned to the ever-evolving threat as the next wave manifests.

Terrorism – Prisons and Risk Management

Coping with Islamist and right-wing terrorism and extremism requires a holistic approach. This paper examines the role of prisons on two levels in this context: as part of the state risk management, i.e. the role of prisons in the security architecture on the one hand, and risk management in prisons on the other hand. By highlighting the importance of an individualised perspective on the incarcerated persons bearing in mind the heterogeneity of the phenomenon, the paper also intends to raise interest beyond the purely dogmatic issues and to include the perspective of prisons in the discussion on how to deal with terrorism and extremism.

Counterterrorism and the challenges of terrorism from the far right

This article examines how post-9/11 counterterrorism has often not been applied to far-right terrorism. Discriminatory double standards in counterterrorism should not be tolerated. Nevertheless, the answer is not simply to ratchet up counterterrorism to apply to the far-right. The legitimate desire for symbolic equality should not blind us to the underlying weaknesses of many of those instruments both in preventing terrorism and in respecting rights. In some cases, such as the United Nation’s regime of individual sanctions related to financing and travel of those associated with al Qaeda and Daesh, application to the far-right is not legally possible. It will be suggested in this article that far-right terrorism should be used as an opportunity to re-evaluate the effectiveness and propriety of all counterterrorism. A preliminary assessment suggests that counterterrorism tied to international or national proscription may not be effective (both generally and specifically in relation to the far-right). More difficult cases involve whether terrorism offences and offences targeting speech should be applied against all forms of terrorism. Interventions regulating items and material on the Internet used by terrorists and programs to counter violent extremism and to rehabilitate offenders may be promising in addressing both far-right and Daesh-inspired terrorism. Both New Zealand’s increased regulation of guns and the Christchurch calls for greater regulation of the Internet follow these more promising strategies.

The ‘tarrant effect’: what impact did far-right attacks have on the 8chan forum?

ABSTRACT This paper analyses the impact of a series of mass shootings committed in 2018–2019 by right-wing extremists on 8chan/pol, a prominent far-right online forum. Using computational methods, it offers a detailed examination of how attacks trigger shifts in both forum activity and content. We find that while each shooting is discussed by forum participants, their respective impact varies considerably. We highlight, in particular, a ‘Tarrant effect’: the considerable effect Brenton Tarrant’s attack of two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, had on the forum. Considering the rise in far-right terrorism and the growing and diversifying online far-right ecosystem, such interactive offline-online effects warrant the attention of scholars and security professionals.

THE GREAT RANDOMIZER: USING VIRTUAL AGENTS FOR AUDITING THE EFFECTS OF YOUTUBE RECOMMENDATION ALGORITHM ON IDEOLOGICALLY-CHARGED NEWS CONTENT DISTRIBUTION

In this paper, we examine the effects of the YouTube recommendation algorithm on the distribution of ideologically-charged news content. For that purpose, we develop a research infrastructure and conduct a series of experiments using virtual agents (n=200) in a fully controlled environment. We specifically look at YouTube recommendations for videos related to the far-right terrorist attack in the German city of Halle in 2019 and examine how these recommendations differ depending on the type and political affiliation of videos watched by the agents. We find that YouTube recommendations are highly randomized that leads to fundamentally different recommendation trajectories under the condition of identical agent activity which was also synchronized to isolate the effect of time. We also find significant discrepancies in recommendations generated in browsers, with the recommendations for Firefox being slightly less randomized than those for Chrome. Finally, our observations suggest that the recommendations for the agents starting with right-leaning news videos are marginally more consistent than those for the mainstream and left-leaning videos.

When (and where) can right-wing terrorists be charged with terrorism?

ABSTRACT As illustrated by the cases of white supremacists Dylan Roof and Robert Bowers, most ideological mass murderers in the US cannot be charged with any federal terrorism offence, even when their attacks clearly qualify as terrorism under federal law. Yet relatively minor offences committed to support a Foreign Terrorist Organisation can be charged as terrorism. Accordingly, nearly all those charged with terrorism are Muslim. This perverse result necessarily furthers Islamophobia and discourages vigilance against right-wing terrorism. To determine whether this imbalance exists in other jurisdictions, this article analyzes terrorism laws in all 50 US states and in 34 other countries. Results indicate that broad terrorism statutes, allowing any major crime fitting a general definition of terrorism to be charged as a terrorism offence, are extremely common (though not universal). The US government’s approach is thus highly anomalous. In addition, exploratory data collection was conducted to investigate whether these statutes are in fact utilised to charge right-wing terrorists with terrorism offences. A number of cases are identified in which prosecutors (in 6 US states and 12 countries) have charged right-wing terrorists with terrorism. The implications of these findings for theory and counterterrorism policy are explored

Dying for the cause? The logic and function of ideologically motivated suicide, martyrdom, and self-sacrifice within the contemporary extreme right

ABSTRACT In recent years, extreme right-wing militancy and terrorism have increasingly become the major source of violent attacks, killings, and threats in many Western countries. Yet, the characteristics and logic of right-wing terrorism remain poorly understood. One aspect virtually unexplored is the apparent lack of suicide terror tactics within far-right terrorism. Suicide terrorism has been attributed mainly to religious and ethno-separatist terrorist organizations. This article explores the contemporary extreme right’s stance toward suicide, self-sacrifice, and martyrdom at the ideological, strategic, and subcultural levels through historic references to martyrdom in Nazi Germany and post-WWII far-right movements, as well as extreme right strategic manuals and ideological manifestos. In sum, this article argues that the extreme right is unlikely to use suicide attack tactics in the narrow sense since its own distinct sacrificial martyrdom mythology based on ideological steadfastness and a hypermasculine warrior identity of fighting until defeat incentivizes different types of attacks involving suicide, such as murder-suicides or mass shootings.

The Synergy between White Supremacist and Jihadist Violence in the Targeting of Religious Institutions

The 2019 Easter Islamic State (IS) attacks on Sri Lankan churches is seen by the government as retribution for a white nationalist attack on Christchurch New Zealand mosques. This article analyses the synergy between white nationalist and jihadi violence. It examines the growth of the Western extremist right as a response to economic globalization and the cultural-religious transformation of European and North American society. In part right-wing terrorism is a response to past jihadi attacks in the West and radicalized minority sub-communities within Europe’s large Muslim Diaspora population. Much like the left-right terrorist violence that convulsed Europe in the 1970’s we may be facing a destabilizing future of revenge attacks by jihadists and their far-right antagonists that target religious institutions and celebrations. This process results in a synergistic level of violence in which Jews are at the greatest risk for attacks.