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date: 30 June 2022

Abstract and Keywords

This chapter, on contemporary radical right violence in Western Europe and North America, begins with a definitional question: what do we mean by “radical right” or “radical right populism”? Relying on the work of Cas Mudde and others, the stress is on nationalism, exclusionism (certain groups are not considered part of the national community), elitism, and monism (the idea that political questions have only one correct answer). The chapter then seeks to understand the conditions that give rise to radical right violence, relying on the work of Ehud Sprinzak and others. The stress is on particularistic violence and its use against minority groups seeking to assert claims to improved status in society. Vigilantism, employing violence outside the law in order to exert social control over the minority, is a common attribute. Finally, the chapter reviews the major forms of radical right violence, emphasizing “lone wolf” attacks and ethnic riots.

Keywords: radical right violence, Western Europe, North America, populism, nationalism, elitism, exclusionism, monism, vigilantism, lone wolf attacks

Leonard Weinberg

Leonard Weinberg is Foundation Professor of Political Science Emeritus at the University of Nevada and has served as a senior fellow at the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism in Oklahoma City and at the National Security Studies Center at the University of Haifa, Israel. He has been a Fulbright Senior Research Fellow for Italy; a visiting scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles; a visiting professor at King’s College, University of London, and the University of Haifa; and the recipient of an H. F. Guggenheim Foundation grant for the study of political violence. He has also served as a consultant to the United Nations Office for the Prevention of Terrorism, Agency for Crime Control and Drug Prevention. For his work in promoting Christian-Jewish reconciliation Weinberg was a recipient of the 1999 Thornton Peace Prize. Recent books include Democracy and Terrorism (2013), The End of Terrorism (2011); Democratic Responses to Terrorism (2007, ed.), and Global Terrorism (2005).

Eliot Assoudeh

Eliot Assoudeh is currently Adjunct Professor of political science at University of Nevada, Reno, where he received his Ph.D. with a focus in comparative politics in 2017. His research interests are modern ideologies and religion, political extremism, and far-right political parties and movements in Europe, the Middle East and the United States. He is a recipient of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa research grant for his project on fascism and religion in the Middle East (2014, 2015, and 2017). He holds an M.A. in political science from Western Washington University (2010). His articles and analyses have appeared in Religion Compass, Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, Fair Observer, and National Security Forum, and on the BBC Persian Service.

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