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Contemporary Political Extremism

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Racial and Religious Hate Crime

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Abstract

Chapter 6 addressed the intensification of Islamophobia that occurred against a historical background of discrimination and prejudice towards Indians, Asians, and Muslims within the United Kingdom. It highlighted how a series of disturbances at the end of the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty-first century underpinned efforts to strengthen social cohesion and develop a new British identity. The present chapter examines the existence of extremist ideologies within Britain. While the government accepted the need to address extremist groups and extremist ideologies within previous policy discourse, here the focus will be extended to include extremist far right and left wing political parties within Britain and also address the penetration of illiberal thought within populist narratives and media discourse. The present chapter consequently feeds into and informs Chapter 8 that will examine the salience of illiberal thought during the lead-up to the 2016 referendum campaign and thereafter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK

    Wendy Laverick

  2. Department of Social and Life Sciences, Glyndŵr University, Wrexham, UK

    Peter Joyce

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  1. Wendy Laverick
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Laverick, W., Joyce, P. (2019). Contemporary Political Extremism. In: Racial and Religious Hate Crime. Palgrave Hate Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21317-6_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21317-6_7

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