The Contemporary Euro-American Far Right and the New White Nationalism

My research examines the contemporary far right as an international social movement. It explores the narratives shared by different far-right groups in Europe and North America, which enable them increasingly to see themselves as part of a common, international political project. It also analyses the organisational infrastructure, political networks, strategies and tactics that they employ. Existing scholarship in this area tends to focus on individual far-right groups or specific countries. However, my research suggests that these groups now have such extensive international networks that it is questionable whether there is any longer such a thing as the 'British' (or 'German' or 'American') far right. Furthermore, much of the literature on the far right is essentially descriptive, preoccupied with placing different groups into definitive categories (e.g. 'fascist', 'neo-Nazi', 'populist') based on their professed political beliefs and policy preferences. These approaches do not answer the central and politically urgent questions of what is driving the current international resurgence of far-right activism, and how far-right groups in different countries are interacting with one another.

My research addresses these gaps by providing a new way of conceptualising the 'far right' and by using innovative research methods to map out this complex and evolving phenomenon. It approaches the far right as a 'counter-revolutionary' political movement, united by a shared desire to arrest or reverse processes of social change and recuperate a mythic, romanticised idea of the past. This is the desire expressed in popular slogans such as Donald Trump's 'Make America Great Again' and the Brexit campaign's 'Take Back Control'. It is what ultimately distinguishes the 'far' right from the 'mainstream' or 'conservative' right, which seeks to maintain the social and political status quo, and from the 'progressive' left, which aims at social transformation and political emancipation. My research uses big data to map out far-right political networks and movements, which today are often organised online, combining this with more traditional research methods such as archival analysis, in-depth interviews with far-right activists and their opponents, and observation of events such as demonstrations and rallies. This innovative combination of methods allows me to understand both the ideological and material links between far-right groups, as well as the particular anxieties and concerns that are leading individual activists to participate in these movements.

The principal aim of this fellowship will be to build on my PhD research, which focused on one particular aspect of the international far-right movement: the idea of a specifically Islamic or Muslim threat to 'Western civilisation' that has come to serve as a unifying theme for different far-right groups across Europe and North America. During the period of the fellowship I will disseminate the key findings from my PhD research by submitting at least two articles to peer-reviewed academic journals, presenting my work at conferences and workshops, and cultivating existing working relationships with practitioners from the race equality, civil rights and human rights fields. I will also use the fellowship to develop a funding proposal for a new piece of postdoctoral research, related to but distinct from my PhD project. This new piece of research will explore the relationship between far-right politics, masculinity and violence within the 'Alt Right' and related movements.