- Nora Cornelia Glerud Benningstad, University of Oslo & Milan Obaidi, University of Copenhagen: The nexus of violent extremism and climate change
- Lise Benoist, Uppsala University: Localist far-right environmental activism: Practices, motivations and affective attachment to place
- Oluf Gøtzsche-Astrup, Aarhus University: Climate activism and radicalism: The effects of government action and inaction
Abstracts
The nexus of violent extremism and climate change
Nora C. G. Benningstad, University of Oslo, Gulnaz Anjum, University of Oslo & Milan Obaidi, University of Copenhagen
This paper presents the first systematic literature review of empirical research on the link between climate change and violent extremism. Climate change and extremist violence may intersect, through a number of interrelated socio-structural conditions and psychological factors. The review synthesizes existing research, identifies gaps, and explores various factors such as climate shocks, climate change threat, extremism indicators, and support for or recruitment by extremist groups.
A comprehensive search with a predetermined search string was conducted in five relevant databases. The machine learning software ASReview was used for the screening, and 148 research articles were manually screened in full text.
Preliminary findings reveal various patterns, with the predominant trend indicating a positive correlation between climatic changes and violent extremism, encompassing terror incidents, support for extremist groups, recruitment, and indirect indicators (e.g., racism, authoritarianism). The studies covered a wide range of regions. A considerable amount of the research focused on the global and continental level, offering a broad perspective on the link between climate change and violent extremism.
The review indicates a positive relationship between climate change and violent extremism. However, diverging findings in the literature highlights a need for additional research to further understand the complexities and nuances of this relationship.
Localist far-right environmental activism: Practices, motivations and affective attachment to place
Lise Benoist, Uppsala University
My research brings into conversation the fields of human geography and the political ecologies of the far right to contribute to a better understanding of the new exclusionary geographies brought about by the rise of the far right and climate change and ecological degradation. Far-right localism constitutes an example of mutating far-right ecological discourses and strategies on the denialism-ecofascism spectrum that further promotes far-right ideology under a ‘green’ banner. Far-right localism advocates a nativist rootedness in an exclusionary local, upheld as a prerequisite for effective environmentalism. Such a strategy affectively mobilises a reactionary conceptualisation of place and revolves around an identitarian, naturalist and organicist understanding of ecology typical of far-right environmentalism, as well as the wish to supplant the left/right divide with a global/local one. But who are these far-right environmental activists, what are they actually doing and why? The presentation will draw from in-depth interviews with far-right environmental activists, field observations, and the analysis of communication material from selected far-right environmental organisations in France. I am to contribute to the investigation of the complex affinities between ideologies of nature, identity (re-)production and belonging, in relation to place-based environmental resistance.
Climate activism and radicalism: The effects of government action and inaction
Oluf Gøtzsche-Astrup & Michael Bang Petersen, Aarhus University
Climate change is quickly becoming a focus for social science research. In the activism and radicalism literature, we see calls to focus on the risk of activism and radicalism due to the climate change issue (Silke & Morrison, 2022). However, we have yet to see a strong eco-radicalism reaction in society. As ecological disasters mount and forecasts for climate emergencies narrow in on pessimistic models, the onset of climate radicalization may have been pushed to the immediate future. Recent studies show high levels of climate anxiety among young people across the globe combined with despondency about their governments’ lack of initiative to solve the issue leading to negative emotions such as fear, sadness, anger, powerlessness, and guilt (Hickman et al., 2021). We ask if this sense of inadequate action or inaction drives climate radicalization. Research on activism and radicalism indicates a connection between perceptions of unfairness and a tendency for more radical thought and action (Van den Bos, 2018).
Jansma, Van den Bos and de Graaf (2022) suggest that not feeling heard by the government can be one such driver of activism turning to radicalism. This feeling of unfairness may lead to negative feelings. While this may first lead to an engagement with peaceful and legal action to voice concerns, over time some citizens may find themselves increasingly attracted to more extreme forms of engagement.
In the study, we report the findings of a survey experiment conducted in the spring of 2024 on representative samples of 1,000 participants from each of eight countries (Denmark, UK, US, France, Germany, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey). We expose participants to information about government action or inaction, and investigate their intentions to engage in pro-environmental or anti-environmental activism and radicalism actions. We expect an interaction between existing attitudes towards climate change and exposure to information about government action and inaction to predict future intentions.