Right-Wing Terrorism in Western Europe: Concepts, Patterns and Trends – Public Expert Seminar

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The UrbTerr team is pleased to announce our next expert seminar, in conversation with Professor Dr. Tore Bjørgo (University of Oslo, Norway) which will take place in-person on May 24th at 4 pm GMT in Muirhead Tower, Room 109, University of Birmingham.

 

Europe has experienced a revival of militant right-wing extremist groups, networks, and incidents in recent years, with a surge of anti-immigration and anti-government attacks and assaults on political opponents, ethnic minorities, and homosexuals. While the majority of these incidents have been seen mostly as isolated events when compared with other attacks perpetrated by Islamist extremists, statistics clearly show the significant risk posed by violent right-wing extremists in Western countries.

In the context of the expert seminar, Prof. Tore Bjørgo will address the key concepts, patterns and trends in right-wing terrorism and violence in Western Europe, based on the latest annual report from the Right-Wing Terrorism and Violence (RTV) dataset. The Right-Wing Terrorism and Violence (RTV) dataset was built following the 22 July 2011 terrorist attacks in Norway and the discovery of the German terrorist cell Nationalsozialistischer Untergrund in the same year. These two events exposed a critical need for more updated and systematic events data on right-wing terrorism and violence in post-1990 Western Europe.

Dr. Tore Bjørgo is professor at the University of Oslo and Director at “Center for Research on Extremism: Right-Wing Extremism, Hate Crime and Political Violence” (C‑REX). He is also Adjunct Professor at the Norwegian Police University College (PHS). Since 2002, he has been coordinator of the Norwegian Consortium for Research on Terrorism and International Crime. The main recurring theme in his extensive research has been violent extremism and terrorism in general, and right-wing extremism in particular, and with a focus on prevention. He is widely recognised as a pioneer in the study of deradicalisation and disengagement from extremist groups. He has also been a member of national and international expert groups, including the European expert group on violent radicalisation, reporting to the EU Commission (2005 – 2008), and an international expert group to inform and review the United Nations’ evolving counter-terrorism strategy (2005).

A respondent to the expert seminar will be Dr Steve Hewitt, Senior Lecturer in American and Canadian Studies at the Department of History (University of Birmingham). Dr Hewitt is a British/Canadian academic interested in security and intelligence in the past and present and in a US/UK/Canada context.  His work has covered a range of topics, such as state surveillance against Canadian universities, UK and US counter-terrorism, a history of informants, and the world’s most famous police force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The seminar will take place in person on May 24th at 4 pm GMT in Muirhead Tower, Room 109, University of Birmingham. It is open for attendance for students and staff from the University of Birmingham and external visitors. Contact Dr Katharina Karcher (k.karcher@bham.ac.uk) if you have any questions.

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