The purpose of this thesis is to answer the question, why is there a variation in anti-Muslim sentiments across Western Europe? There is existing literature on individual and country-level variable s to explain why prejudice exists, but this research examines the impact of political institutions on anti-Muslim sentiments. Based on new institutionalism theory, electoral systems can shape public attitudes by providing far-right parties a platform to put their concerns on the agenda, and these parties promote anti-Muslim popular sentiments. The results of this analysis support this argument in that the larger the average district magnitude in a country, the greater the anti-Muslim sentiments. The findings also show that an increase in far-right party vote-share also covaries with an increase in anti-Muslim sentiments.

This thesis aims to explore the spread of populist propaganda on social media on the case of the Dutch politician Geert Wilders and Twitter. The research questions of this thesis focus primarily on the message that is being spread by Mr. Wilders and his followers, the way his followers react to this content and the attempt to securitize Islam through populist propaganda. The thesis uses the methodology of discursive thematic interpretation to analyze the narrative that is being spread. In order to collect data for this analysis, the analytical tool NodeXL Pro has been employed. This tool made it possible to not only collect data and identify the people interacting with a theme, but also visualize their position within the network. The thesis uses datasets collected by NodeXL for the discursive thematic interpretation of data. The analysis itself is divided into different sections, first analyzing the content shared by Geert Wilders and identifying the themes and reconstructing the narrative. Next, the analysis moves on to more specific subsections, such as important hashtags or examples of active users from Wilders' proximity. NodeXL was also helpful in modelling the networks and discovering the echo chambers formed around Geert Wilders.

There is a puzzling occurrence in Western Europe: Some far-right populist parties, traditionally seen as antithetical to liberalism, are appropriating liberal rights for their own illiberal ends. On the premise that the parties instrumentalise liberal elements to achieve more legitimacy in a climate of tolerance and respect for human rights in Western Europe, this thesis examines how far-right populist parties use human rights for mobilising purposes. Using Clifford Bob’s four conceptual elements of mobilising human rights rhetoric, in a qualitative content analysis the language of three Western European far-right populist parties is analysed. It is argued that, by drawing from a liberalism of fear, far-right populists frame human rights as a Western achievement, under threat by immigration from Islamic countries and the “corrupt elite” that allows for immigration to continue. By doing so, populists manage to incorporate human rights rhetoric in their mobilisation efforts, without challenging human rights per se.

The gradual disappearance of the so-called ‘alt-right’, caused in part by the gradual deplatforming of its figureheads has created somewhat of a power vacuum, allowing for a new generation of far-right influencers to take over. The Groyper movement, led by 23-year-old Nicholas J. Fuentes, could in this sense be described as one of the successors of the alt-right. The Groypers are youth-led and youth-oriented, insofar as their primary aim is to radicalize – or ‘red pill’ – Generation Z, a strategy outlined both in their speech and their use of social media platforms primarily used by young people, with TikTok being the most notable example. Despite the movement’s relative infancy, it could easily be described as one of the fastest growing far right group in the modern era – in large part due to the perfect storm created by the COVID-19 lockdowns and the Black Lives Matter protests – and has recently begun to spawn culturally distinct offshoots outside of the United States into countries like Canada. This thesis will therefore examine the discursive practices of the Canadian ‘branch’ of the Groyper movement on TikTok in order to identify some of the tactics it uses to facilitate the radicalization of teenagers and young adults by drawing on Ruth Wodak’s Discourse-Historical framework. The findings of this project add to a growing body of research regarding youth-oriented far-right movements, the use TikTok for propaganda purposes, and the broader literature of discourse analysis.

This thesis explores the influence of far-right parties on constitutional democracies in Europe, focusing on their adherence to human rights standards and state obligations within the European legal framework. Against the backdrop of rising electoral support for far-right parties across Europe, this thesis aims to examine the common features of far-right party programs and assess the potential consequences of their actions on human rights and democratic values. The concept of militant democracy serves as a theoretical framework, examining the tension between democratic self-preservation and the exercise of individual human rights. Using the doctrinal method, the thesis presents a systematic analysis of existing legal materials, with anemphasis on the European legislative framework developed after World War II and its impact on European constitutional democracies. By grounding the study in the theoretical framework, it seeks to identify safeguards for the efficient functioning of democracy within contemporary legal settings.

In 2017, the far right populist, transnational movement “Generation Identity” (GI) embarked on an activist “mission” in the Mediterranean Sea to stop non-European migrants from reaching the European continent. This paper presents a study of how GI was able to do so, analysing the empowering network of support that evolved during the movement’s “Defend Europe” campaign. Its relevance arises from the globally growing assertiveness of populist actors, cooperating and shaping international politics together. However, studies on party politics and international interactions prevail in research on global populism -this paper is the first one to raise the question of how far right populist social movements interact in transnational networks. Applying a resource mobilization approach and drawing on transnational advocacy theory, I attempt to answer this question with a single case study on the German GI-branch’s networking activities during the Defend Europe campaign. The relational data collected shows that far right populists, too, engage in transnational advocacy efforts, and it appears that their populism does not visibly determine how their networks function. Rather, GI’s activism in “defensive mode” seems decisive for the movement’s transnational networking practices, limiting its possibilities to gain in political and societal influence.

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Understanding how political parties and social movements interact and what are the results of these interactions is important for both scholars of Political Science and Sociology. This is particularly true for far-right actors since they are characterised by diverse ideological and organisational features. Understanding how parties and movements interact can help shed light on how these features develop and, ultimately, explain their success. In the dissertation a novel conceptualisation of party-movement interactions is presented, as well as a theory that aims to explain when parties and movements are more likely to develop stronger interactions on three different dimensions, frames, actions and organisations. This theory is tested by looking at two sets of far-right parties and movements, Lega Nord and CasaPound Italia in Italy and the United Kingdom Independence Party and the English Defence League in the United Kingdom. The analysis is carried out through a Political Claim Analysis and a document analysis of parties and movements documents for the period 2009-2019. The analysis finds that parties and movements have closer interactions on the frame dimension when issues they own gain prominence in the public debate and when political parties are weak electorally. In the actions dimension, interactions tend to be closer when parties are weak electorally and movement organisations moderate their repertoire of actions. Finally, in the organisational dimension, relations are closer when parties are weak electorally and in proximity of electoral campaigns. This research makes two contributions to the study of far-right parties and movements. The first is theoretical, for the paper advances a new theory of party-movement interactions that could be tested in different scenarios. The second is empirical, for the paper provides indications on when parties and movements are more likely to have closer interactions and how through these interactions they change and develop their features.

The production of Hate, albeit a historical, long-existing, and relentless process, has been reinvigorated by the simultaneously globalizing and localizing power of cyberspace. Techno-capitalism, often perceived as the actuating force of neoliberal globalization, has emanated novel formations of social interaction, community formation, the dissemination of ideology, and political mobilization. Far-right ideology is being globalized throughout popular social cyberspaces like YouTube by thought leaders or ideological entrepreneurs, while users then localize within alternative social cyberspaces like Gab, wherein their beliefs are reaffirmed, identities are consolidated, and communities are formed. This process is integral to the materialization of far-right extremism, manifested as political action in real, physical space, and thus, illuminates new expressions of real virtuality, various politics of scale, and contemporary consequences of neoliberal globalization.

Russia’s connection to far-right movements is an emerging research area. By looking at the case of Georgia, a strategic narrative approach is employed to further understand this connection in a complex environment of anti-Russian sentiments. By developing an analytical framework looking into strategic narrative alignment, a focus is shifted to communication and storytelling. Russian News Agency TASS and two Georgian movements, Alliance of Patriots and Conservative Movement, are analysed through a narrative analysis and evaluated in how, and to what extent their narratives align. The results unveil echoing stories of a Western villain and future solutions of a Georgia tending to its true national interests. The Russian narrative aligns to a larger extent with the radical right party rather than the extreme right party. Aligning narration in antagonistic purposes can thereby implicate Georgia’s foreign policy direction of Euro-Atlantic integration by facilitation of Russian interests through domestic, far-right movements.