Ideology and Identity

The far right in Europe includes a wide specter of movements, parties, groups and individuals. Despite differences it is possible to find similarities as regards ideologies, worldviews and constructions of identity. Immigration has become a major political issue in most European countries including Norway.

Far right ideologies define immigration as a threat to indigenous identities and far right groups contribute to new ways of defining national identities. Religion and race are being debated and conceptualised in new ways.

Some aspects of ideology and identity formation take increasingly global expressions as a result of new forms of communication and mediatization. At the same time, national contexts and local realities still shape the ideologies and identities of the far right.

Scholars at C-REX study these phenomena in several countries from a variety of different perspectives using both qualitative and quantitative methods.

Key questions

• What is the ideology of contemporary far right groups and individuals?
• What form do these ideologies, worldviews and identities take in different fora?
• What role does religion or stereotypes of religious communities play?
• What role does modern human rights discourse play in the rhetoric of such groups?

Ongoing projects

• Re-bordering the nation: ethnographies of neo-nationalism in an age of migration
• The role of gender in anti-Islamic discourses
• The Origins, Expressions, and Boundaries of anti-Islamic views: Norway, Germany and the UK

Relevant publications

• A state-centred conception of nationhood? Norwegian bureaucrats on the nation by Marta Bivand Erdal and Katrine Fangen

• Researching the Far Right - Theory, Method and Practice edited by Stephen D. Ashe, Joel Busher, Graham Macklin and Aaron Winter
• The role of Muslim identity in predicting violent behavioural intentions to defend Muslims, by Milan Obaidi, Gulnaz Anjum, Joanna Lindström, Robin Bergh, Elif Celebi, Merve Baykal
• Group membership and radicalization: A cross-national investigation of collective self-esteem underlying extremism, by Simon Ozer, Milan Obaidi, Stefan Pfattheicher
• Hindutva as a variant of right-wing extremism by Eviane Leidig
• Variations within the Norwegian far right: from neo-Nazism to anti-Islamism by By Katrine Fangen and Maria Reite Nilsen
• CasaPound Italia: ‘Back to Believing. The Struggle Continues’ by Elisabetta Cassina Wolff    
• Christianity Betrayed - Conspiracy Theory about a Leftist-Muslim Plot against Christianity in Norway by Torkel Brekke
• Defending the Endangered Nation: Nordic Identitarian Christianism in the Age of Migration by Cathrine Thorleifsson and Anders Ravik Jupskås
• Engaging in extreme activism in support of others’ political struggles: The role of politically motivated fusion with out-groups by Jonas Kunst, Beverly Boos, Sasha Y. Kimel, Milan Obaidi, Maor Shani, Lotte Thomsen
• Group-Based Relative Deprivation Explains Endorsement of Extremism Among Western-Born Muslims by Milan Obaidi, Robin Bergh, Nazar Akrami and Gulnaz Anjum
• Immigrant, Nationalist and Proud: A Twitter Analysis of Indian Diaspora Supporters for Brexit and Trump by Eviane Leidig
• In pursuit of purity: populist nationalism and the racialization of difference by Cathrine Thorleifsson
• Key Thinkers of the Radical Right: Greg Johnsen and Counter-Currents. Read Graham Macklins chapter on Greg Johnsen and Counter-Currents in the anthology Key Thinkers of the Radical Right: Behind the New Threat to Liberal Democracy (Mark Sedgwick (ed))
• New neighbours or a security threat? The role of local stories in anti-asylum seeker centre mobilization in the Netherlands
  by Iris Beau Segers, Department of Media and Communication
• The battle for truth: How online newspaper commenters defend their censored expressions by Katrine Fangen and Carina Riborg Holter
• The Far Right Today by Cas Mudde
• The fascist who would be king: Count Geoffrey Potocki de Montalk by Graham Macklin and Craig Fowlie
• The Politics of Affect: the Glue of Religious and Identity Conflicts in Social Media by Mona Abdel-Fadil
• The Swedish dystopia: violent imaginaries of the radical right
  by Cathrine Thorleifsson
• Working with difference: Cognitive schemas, ethical cosmopolitanism and negotiating cultural diversity by Nina Høy-Petersen and Ian Woodward
• A Fantastic People and Its Enemies: An Analysis of an Emerging Albanian Mythology C-REX affilliated researcher Cecilie Endresen has written the chapter in the Handbook of Conspiracy Theory and Contemporary Religion 
• Nationalist responses to the crises in Europe by Cathrine Thorleifsson
• Nationalizing Christianity and Hijacking Religion on Facebook
  by Mona Abdel-Fadil
• The state of the nation: the Norwegian King’s annual addresses – a window on a shifting nationhood by Sandra Feride Demiri and Katrine Fangen
• Dimensional issue competition on migration: a comparative analysis of public debates in Western Europe by Pietro Castelli Gattinara
• It's not Economic Interventionism, Stupid! Reassessing the Political Economy of Radical Right‐wing Populist Parties
  by Simon Otjes, University of Groningen, Gilles Ivaldi, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, Anders Ravik Jupskås, University in Oslo, Oscar Mazzoleni, University of Lausanne
• The Far Right in America by Cas Mudde
• Aliud pro alio. Context and narratives within a neo-Nazi community of practice by Fabio M. Poppi and Pietro Castelli Gattinara
• Identity Politics in a Mediatized Religious Environment on Facebook: Yes to Wearing the Cross Whenever and Wherever I Choose by Mona Abdel-Fadil 
• Disposable strangers: far-right securitisation of forced migration in Hungary by Cathrine Thorleifsson
• Norwegian national day oratory: constructing and reconstructing a national we by Bjørnar Buxrud and Katrine Fangen
• Patterns of Legitimacy on the Far Right
  by Lars Erik Berntzen, Lise Bjånesøy, and Elisabeth Ivarsflaten
• Conflict and Affect Among Conservative Christians on Facebook
  by Mona Abdel-Fadil
• Evola's interpretation of fascism and moral responsibility
  by Elisabetta Cassina Wolf
• On Extremism and Democracy in Europe by Cas Mudde
• Nationalism and the Politics of Fear in Israel by Cathrine Thorleifsson
• The vicious circle of religious prejudice: Islamophobia makes the acculturation attitudes of majority and minority members clash
  by Kunst, Jonas R.; Sadeghi, Talieh; Tahir, Hajra; Sam, David Lackland and Thomsen, Lotte
• “We Are in This Together”: Common Group Identity Predicts Majority Members’ Active Acculturation Efforts to Integrate Immigrants by Kunst, Jonas R.; Thomsen, Lotte; Sam, David Lackland and Berry, John W.
• Bridging the gap between ancient and modern in the study of religion and violence in India by Torkel Brekke
• “Glory to Breivik!”: The Russian Far Right and the 2011 Norway Attacks by Johannes Due Enstad