"I took action for my race": Right-Wing Extremism as a Transnational Social Movement

• Author / Creator

  Mirzahi, Sadaf

• Right-wing extremism is on the rise globally, but despite the growing threat from right-wing terrorists, there is inadequate contemporary scholarship to analyze their ideology, actions, and motivations. This study uses social movement theory to investigate the phenomenon of right-wing extremism. The study interrogates the personal motivations and/or larger political, ideological, and religious goals of right-wing terrorists in order to improve understanding of the right-wing extremist movement and its framing strategies.
  This study conducts framing analysis of seven right-wing terrorists’ writings and explores their ideation, repertoires of action, and capacity for transnational networking. Applying social movement theory, the study finds that the right-wing extremist movement’s diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational frames work together to mobilize adherents of the movement. The diagnostic framings of the movement focus on issues of race, religion, gender norms, and government corruption. The prognostic framings propose political violence and ‘separate development’. The motivational framings encourage movement adherents to take action by invoking concepts of honour, family and kinship, racial solidarity, and the collective good.
  Framing analysis of the terrorists’ writings demonstrate that these seemingly disparate individuals and their acts of violence are constitutive of an identifiable transnational social movement: right-wing extremism. Right-wing extremists use the Internet to gain supporters by framing their grievances, demands, goals, and tactics in a way that resonates with domestic and international potential supporters and proves valuable to new recruits. In turn, gaining international support demonstrates to existing members that they are not alone and encourages domestic mobilization. Moreover, the rhetoric, actions, and policies of populist and RWE leaders like Donald Trump are crucial when it comes to the success and growth of the RWE movement. Although significant attention is devoted to radical Islamist terrorist movements post-9/11, this paper concludes by arguing for a greater focus on the right-wing extremist movement in the age of Trumpism.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Right-wing extremism
  • social movement

• Graduation date

  Fall 2020

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-r4wp-a844

• License

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