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Who controls the border?: an analysis of the Nordic far-right
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Price, Charlie W. (2023) Who controls the border?: an analysis of the Nordic far-right. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b3980843
Abstract
The time in which we live is rife with far-right politics. Whether it be labelled as ‘nativist’ or ‘populist’, ‘conservative’ or ‘reactionary’, ‘extreme’ or ‘radical’, the far-right is everywhere. The electoral successes of far-right groups have rightfully attracted significant public and academic attention, as has the so-called ‘Alt-Right’. It is from here that I arrive at the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), a pan-Nordic far-right organisation with the aspiration of creating a new Nordic polity. The purpose of this thesis is not to show that the threat of the NRM is downplayed or ignored; rather, it is to show that the politics and practices of this group challenge foundational concepts in research into international politics. This thesis uses a qualitative study of the NRM to explore the challenges that a small organisation, with grand aspirations, poses to our understandings of politics. I argue that the NRM, and far-right groups generally, are best understood through frameworks of ontological security, biopolitics, and bordering. Through addressing the concepts simultaneously, I develop the concept of irregular bordering. Irregular bordering is about the production of borders by non-state actors, through the physical presence of these actors in a seemingly banal location. The irregular border speaks to ontological security because we must understand why the borderers make it and the ontological insecurity that such border is designed to produce in others. This is also a matter for biopolitics, because the bodies that are present in banal spaces must be produced and deployed. Preventing others from entering a given space is the nature of a border and all communities will do this to some degree; however, when an organisation with sovereign aspirations performs this, then we must look into the notion of sovereignty itself. Sovereignty refers the power to exercise within a given space and the notion of the irregular border raises questions about who is able to exercise this control. Essentially, the irregular border raises the question of: ‘who controls the border?’, which forms the core of my thesis.
The irregular border, and its constituent processes and desires, is a novel development in international relations theory because it decentres a core feature (bordering) of statehood away from states. Furthermore, it draws into question the functions of biopolitics and ontological security by exposing the potentially self-destructive nature of practices orientated around their achievement. Therefore, the concept of the irregular border has multidisciplinary implications and requires detailed study. For the extremity of its politics, the NRM is exemplary for making my case for the irregular border.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
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Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare J Political Science > JA Political science (General) J Political Science > JC Political theory J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) J Political Science > JV Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International migration |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Right-wing extremists -- Norway, Border security, Biopolitics, Scandinavia -- Emigration and immigration -- Social aspects, Scandinavia -- Ethnic relations, Neo-Nazism -- Norway, White nationalism, White supremacy movements | ||||
Official Date: | April 2023 | ||||
Dates: |
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Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Department of Politics and International Studies | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Vaughan-Williams, Nick ; Browning, Christopher S., 1974- | ||||
Sponsors: | Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) | ||||
Format of File: | |||||
Extent: | x, 260 pages : illustrations | ||||
Language: | eng |
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