The main research question of this thesis is how history is used for political gain by the far-right in Finland. The aim is to study not only the use of history but, rather, specifically, the patterns of that use. Two theories have been utilized. The first is the far-right as a milieu, as presented by Colin Campbell in the cultic milieu theory, which would shed light on the fragmentation of the milieu. And the second is the waves theory by David C. Rapoport, which would shed light on the persistence of far-right violence and militancy through time. I have utilized Pieter Geyl’s analysis of the use of history in identifying patterns of use even though it is not considered a theory per my knowledge. Methods applied are content analysis, netnography, comparative and discourse analysis. Through the utilization of these theories and methods applied to the source material, I have found that the Finnish far-right uses history in six different ways, which are centralized around both the use of national history and the predecessor’s history.

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Three models are developed to analyze the state level conditions fostering the rise of far right parties in the European Union in the last two decades. The political background of these parties is examined. This study offers a definition for far right parties, which combines several previous attempts. The research has focused on the effects of the number of the parties, immigration, and unemployment on support for the far right in Europe. Empirical tests, using a random effects model of fifty elections in eight nations, suggest that there are political, social, and economic conditions that are conducive to electoral success. Specifically, increases in the number of "effective" parties favor the far right, while electoral thresholds serve to dampen support. Immigration proves to be a significant variable. Surprisingly, changes in crime and unemployment rates have a negative effect on support for the far right. Suggestions for future research are offered.

This thesis explores how economic performance, measured as real GDP-growth per capita, affects the vote share of parties which relies on radical ideological platforms. Using a fixed effect model with panel data, based on real electoral outcomes of 18 western European democracies, the result reveals an ambiguous reality. The overall conclusion implies that low growth rates benefit the electoral success of radical-right parties and holds for robustness checks. No solid evidence of the relationship is found on the radical-left side.The result further reveals that the individuals decision to vote radical is relative more affected by the ongoing business cycle trend between the elections rather than sudden changes close to the election day. The relationship also appears to be stronger among nations of southern Europe.

This thesis examines through the means of a comparative perspective, factors which have allowed the British National Party to enjoy recent electoral success at the local level under the leadership of party chairman Nick Griffin. Such electoral successes have arisen despite the seemingly relative obscurity of the party at the turn of the century. A number of different aspects are examined in order to achieve this aim. The history of the far right in the UK is examined to establish whether the BNP have changed their stance in comparison to previous far right movements. The BNP are also investigated comparatively with other West European parties who have enjoyed national success, as a means of discovering whether the party are similar to their far right neighbours and why they have not enjoyed similar national success. The press coverage of the BNP is examined at a local and national level, using content analysis and the LexisNexis database. The thesis looks at the role played by the BNP in local elections and the decline of participation in political activity, to establish if there is a link between these two factors. Finally a case study is taken of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, to establish directly if any of the above factors can be directly applied to BNP electoral success in this district. The research discovers that there are opportunities for the BNP to establish a connection with the electorate in local politics which are not necessarily available at times of general election.

The thesis called Qualitative Analysis of Media Discourse of the Far-right Blog cz.altermedia.info deals with the discourse analysis of the Czech version of an international project Altermedia.info. Discourse analysis aims at differences between the discourse of the founding editor and the current one and analyses the neo-fascist nature of the blog. The theoretical framework of the analysis is based on the postmarxist theory of discourse introduced by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. The theoretical part of the thesis summarizes the findings of researchers who are engaged in discourse analysis (structuralism, poststructuralism, Michel Foucault, Louis Althusser, Norman Fairclough, Teun van Dijk). The thesis also examines how specific meaning is constructed within the nationalist discourse of Altermedia and to what extent a new team of authors contributed to the change of discourse. The analysis identifies the main nodal points, which are involved in the construction of discourse, and examines the antagonistic processes within the two different editors. Discursive analysis reveals particular inclination of the current discourse of Altermedia for the neo-Nazi ideology, and thus indicates the fundamental antagonism between the founding editors and current one.

With the increase and popularity of the use of internet, hate speech has reached wider dimensions in societies. This thesis will provide empirical examples to show the relation between speech and actions. This paper will use speech-act theory and social movement theory to portray the relation between hate speech on social media and domestic terrorism inspired by far right extremist. Even though, there has been a lot of work for counter terrorism, domestic terrorism is still overlooked. Empirical sources say that domestic terrorism poses a threat as much as international terrorism. This thesis will bring light over the connections of hate speech and domestic terrorism inspired by far right extremists. It will conclude that there is an evident relation that hate speech on social media is contributing to domestic terrorism actions encouraged by far right extremism.

Othering is central in the rhetoric of both Abu Bakr Naji and Anders Breivik throughout their works. Both authors use it as a device to drive a psychological wedge between the groups of ‘us’ and ‘them’. In the case of Naji, the in group is made up of violence oriented takfiris such as Al Qaeda, but Breivik hoped to appeal to other violence oriented far right groups and individuals, disillusioned with what he perceived to be a slow erosion of ‘traditional’ European life by the far left, feminism and other forces. My research question will revolve around how a use of othering by the authors can reveal what they regard as the major threat to their groups. Superficially, there seem to be many similarities in how each author uses othering to alienate and dehumanise different groups. However, closer inspection reveals entirely different priorities and different methods of othering in play. By examining how othering is used throughout the works, it is possible to see which outside groups are perceived to present the biggest threat to the inside groups and the results are perhaps surprising. Given that The Management of Savagery has been seen as the ISIS strategic manual and the key message throughout the work is try and bring the USA and her allies into a catastrophic war of attrition from which the violence oriented takfiris would rise, I had assumed that the USA, or the ‘Far’ enemy would take the brunt of Naji’s othering drive. Instead, the Shia and all Muslims who are unaligned with Al Qaeda, plus those Muslims closely aligned with the West or Western ideals are the key target for Naji. Likewise, I had expected most of the vitriol from Breivik’s right wing ‘manifesto’ to be directed at Muslim immigrants to Europe. However, his key concern, as evidenced by the othering used throughout his work, is in fact with what he terms ‘cultural Marxists’ – left leaning groups and political parties, which he sees as weakening Europe and allowing outsiders to take over.

Au cours des dernières années, les groupes d’extrême droite ont gagné une visibilité grandissante dans l’espace public au Canada comme ailleurs. Alors que chercheurs comme journalistes tentent de mieux comprendre cette mouvance diverse et évolutive, la littérature scientifique disponible demeure avant tout axé sur les groupes et les tendances plus que les mécanismes et les trajectoires individuelles. Ainsi peu de recherches sont venues s’intéresser aux processus dynamiques qui amènent les individus à rejoindre ou à quitter ces groupes. La présente recherche appréhende les trajectoires de désengagement de treize anciens membres de groupes extrémistes de droite canadiens et met en lumière leur point de vue sur ce vécu. À partir d’une méthodologie de récits de vie, nous mettons en perspective l’engagement et le désengagement de ces individus hors de différents groupes d’extrême droite et explorons le rôle du soutien social dans leurs parcours. Alors que les chercheurs tentent de comprendre le désengagement de l’extrémisme en puisant dans les connaissances sur les thématiques de désistance et désaffiliation de groupes criminels, ou encore le désengagement de groupes marginaux, les thèmes abordés par nos sondés nous ont amenés à prendre un pas de côté et mobiliser plutôt la littérature sur le soutien social l’autodéveloppement (mutual aid and self-help). Développée autour des groupes d’entraide entre pairs de type Alcoolique Anonymes (AA), cette littérature nous permet de toucher du doigt des éléments jusqu’à présent peu explorés des trajectoires de désengagement, c’est-à-dire les différentes composantes du soutien social : le soutien affectif, l’intégration sociale (ou le soutien du réseau), le soutien à l’estime de soi, l’aide tangible, le soutien informatif et l’opportunité d’aider les autres (Cutrona & Russel, 1990). Bien que largement idiosyncrasiques, les résultats de cette recherche démontrent que les trajectoires de sorties de l’extrémisme de droite sont parsemées de points de convergence. L’importance du soutien apporté par les proches (parents, conjointes, ami-e-s), la mise en valeur du savoir expérientiel via l’utilisation du modelage et l’opportunité d’aider les autres comme une façon de s’aider soi-même, sont quelques facteurs facilitant le désengagement qui sont explorés dans ce mémoire. / In recent years, far-right groups have gained increased visibility in Canada and elsewhere. While researchers and journalists alike are trying to better understand this diverse and evolving movement, scientific literature remains primarily focused on groups and trends rather than individual mechanisms and trajectories. As a result, little research has been done on the dynamic processes that lead individuals to join or leave these groups. This research examines the disengagement trajectories of former members of right-wing extremist groups in Canada and highlights their perspectives on this experience. Based on the life stories of thirteen former members, our paper will put into perspective their engagement and disengagement out of different far-right groups, and will explore the role of social support in their journeys. While researchers are trying to understand disengagement from extremism by drawing on knowledge about disengagement and disaffiliation from criminal groups, or disengagement from marginal groups, the themes addressed by our respondents led us to take a step aside and instead mobilize the literature on mutual aid and self-help. Developed around peer support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), this literature allows us to highlight elements of disengagement trajectories that have so far been little explored, that is to say social support components: emotional support, social integration, self-esteem support, tangible aid, informative support and opportunity for nurturance (Cutrona & Russel, 1990). Although largely idiosyncratic, the results of this research show that exit trajectories from extremism are dotted with points of convergence. The importance of support from close ones (parents, spouses, friends), the value of experiential knowledge through the use of modelling and the opportunity to help others as a way of helping oneself, are some of the facilitating factors explored in this thesis.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the constructed vision of social reality that the Sweden Democrats define and thus defend and legitimizes through their climate and environmental policy. With a focus on the power relations that are constitutive of the Sweden Democrats' definition of social reality, the intention is to clarify the Sweden Democrats' position on the issue of climate change and to make visible what underlies their actions concerning the ratification of the Paris Agreement. To achieve the purpose, critical discourse analysis is used as a method where political documents concerning the Sweden Democrats' climate, environment, and energy policy during the period 2018-2021 constitute the empirical material. The results show that the Sweden Democrats' definition of climate change is both ambiguous and ambivalent, where Sweden's self-image and Swedish interests are prioritized over climate measures. The result also shows that the Sweden Democrats' definition of climate change is constituted by underlying power relations to preserve the power of the nation-state and the subordinate position of developing countries. One conclusion that can be drawn is to reduce the Sweden Democrats to just being climate change deniers is to simplify because their attitude to climate change is characterized by ambivalence and self-interest rather than skepticism and denial. Another conclusion is that the Sweden Democrats' attitude to climate change is more about defending and preserving existing power relations and less about questioning the existence of climate change. A third conclusion that can be drawn is that the Sweden Democrats' action regarding the Paris Agreement is more about opposing a social change that entails increased equality and about legitimizing the nation state's continued relevance in a globalized world, and less about opposing the content and implementation of the Paris Agreement.