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

我的研究考察了当代极右翼作为一个国际社会运动。它探讨了欧洲和北美不同极右翼团体的共同叙事，这使他们越来越多地将自己视为共同的国际政治项目的一部分。它还分析了他们所采用的组织基础设施，政治网络，战略和战术。这一领域现有的学术研究往往侧重于个别极右翼团体或特定国家。然而，我的研究表明，这些团体现在拥有如此广泛的国际网络，以至于人们怀疑是否还有“英国”（或“德国”或“美国”）极右派。此外，许多关于极右翼的文献基本上都是描述性的，专注于根据不同群体公开的政治信仰和政策偏好将他们划分为明确的类别（例如“法西斯”，“新纳粹”，“民粹主义”）。这些方法并没有回答核心和政治紧迫的问题是什么驱动了当前的国际复苏的极右激进主义，以及如何极右团体在不同的国家是相互作用的。我的研究通过提供一种新的方式来概念化的“极右”和通过使用创新的研究方法来映射出这个复杂的和不断变化的现象来解决这些差距。它将极右派视为一个“反革命”的政治运动，通过共同的愿望来阻止或逆转社会变革的进程，并恢复神话般的，浪漫化的过去思想。这是唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）的“让美国再次伟大”（Make America Great Again）和英国退欧运动的“夺回控制权”（Take Back Control）等流行口号所表达的愿望。这是“极”右翼与“主流”或“保守”右翼的最终区别，后者寻求维持社会和政治现状，也是“进步”左翼的最终区别，后者旨在社会转型和政治解放。我的研究使用大数据来绘制极右翼政治网络和运动，这些网络和运动今天通常在网上组织，将其与更传统的研究方法相结合，例如档案分析，对极右翼活动家及其对手的深入采访，以及对示威和集会等事件的观察。这种方法的创新组合使我能够理解极右团体之间的意识形态和物质联系，以及导致个别活动家参与这些运动的特殊焦虑和担忧。这项奖学金的主要目的是建立在我的博士研究基础上，该研究侧重于国际极右运动的一个特定方面：特别是伊斯兰或穆斯林对“西方文明”的威胁的想法，已经成为欧洲和北美不同极右翼团体的统一主题。在奖学金期间，我将通过向同行评审的学术期刊提交至少两篇文章，在会议和研讨会上展示我的工作，并与种族平等，民权和人权领域的从业者培养现有的工作关系，传播我的博士研究的主要成果。我还将利用奖学金为一项新的博士后研究提出资助建议，该研究与我的博士项目有关但又不同。这项新的研究将探讨极右翼政治，男性气质和暴力之间的关系，在'Alt Right'和相关运动。

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.