![]() The investigation’s findings were published in February 2021 in a feature article in Die Zeit’s print edition, and an English translation was published simultaneously by Zeit Online. This article is based on an eight-month investigation that was originally conducted by a team of journalists at Die Zeit, a German newsweekly. As will be shown, among these factors are shared ideas (old and new) as well as advancements in technology and occasions for physical get-togethers, ranging from seemingly harmless concerts to paramilitary training and actual fighting in a war zone. Rather, the aim is to discover which factors have proven conducive to connecting right-wing extremists across borders. In doing so, it does not focus solely on potential terrorist or even militant networks. This article seeks to shed light on how these connections occur and are fostered. But they, too, are part of the phenomenon in question here. The same is true for personal connections and friendships. While terror plots, physical attacks in the real world, and arrests by the police can be easily counted, networks are somewhat harder to track, especially if they are clandestine and/or online-based. 1 The Counter Extremism Project (CEP), in a study funded by Germany’s foreign office, concluded in November 2020 that “the 21st century, and the period after 2014 in particular, saw the emergence of a new leaderless, transnational and apocalyptic violent extreme right-wing (XRW) movement.” 2 The Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) of the United Nations Security Council declared in April 2020 that it had been “alerted by Member States to their increasing concern at the growing and increasingly transnational threat posed by extreme right-wing terrorism” and that “ten of the 31 states in which CTED conducted assessment visits … in 20 raised this threat as an issue of concern.” 3 “Right-wing extremists maintain international links and mutual exchange and are influenced by key treatises and emblematic personalities worldwide,” Europol stated in its 2020 Terrorism Situation and Trend Report. ![]() In recent years, analysts and security institutions alike have pointed out that right-wing extremists are increasingly networking across borders and even continents. This process is further supported by shared ideological writings, technological advancement, and the conflict in Ukraine, which has served as a powerful accelarator. ![]() Consequently, networking and cooperating across borders is seen as a necessity. The main finding is that right-wing extremists today, in many cases, no longer subscribe to the narrow concept of nationalism but instead imagine themselves as participants in a global struggle against a global enemy. This article describes some of the mechanisms that are fueling this development. Abstract: The fact that right-wing extremists are cooperating internationally more than ever today is a reality recognized by most researchers and government officials. ![]()
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