As a result of the Christchurch shooting in 2019 by Brenton Tarrant, ecofascism suddenly gained a lot of attention in research. Where most studies focussed on the origins, definition and...Show moreAs a result of the Christchurch shooting in 2019 by Brenton Tarrant, ecofascism suddenly gained a lot of attention in research. Where most studies focussed on the origins, definition and implications of ecofascism, few studies tried to understand the justifications ecofascists used to justify their violent narratives. Therefore, in this thesis the following research question was answered: How do ecofascists try to justify their violent extremist ideas? To this extent, Sykes and Matza’s 1957 neutralization techniques were applied to the manifestos written by Brenton Tarrant and Patrick Crusius through a deductively coded narrative analysis. Sykes and Matza’s 1957 neutralization techniques have been very important for the field of narrative criminology and have proved to be promising for the field of extremism too. It was concluded that both perpetrators used the denial of the victim, condemnation of the condemners and appeal to higher loyalties neutralization techniques, to create a narrative in which extremist violence is not only acceptable, but also necessary for the betterment of the greater good. These findings are in line with previous research which incorporated the neutralization techniques in extremism research.Show less
As extremist ideologies are becoming an increased risk in our contemporary societies, research has started to focus more and more on what exactly makes individuals obtain such radical views....Show moreAs extremist ideologies are becoming an increased risk in our contemporary societies, research has started to focus more and more on what exactly makes individuals obtain such radical views. Following several far-right terrorist attacks over the years, extensive research has been performed on the concept of right-wing extremism. However, one of its subgroups, ecofascism, remains underdeveloped, especially the process of radicalization into ecofascism. In a response to this gap in the research, this thesis presents a case study on the radicalization process of three ecofascists (Anders Breivik, Brenton Tarrant, and Patrick Crusius). In order to get an overview of their life histories, newspaper articles, as well as one additional source per case, which includes a documentary, a government inquiry report, and a case file were selected. Using the push-pull model of radicalization, a thematic analysis was performed, which allowed for the identification of common push and pull factors among the ecofascists. The analysis revealed four push factors (traumatic experiences, a lack of social bonds, a changing socio-political environment, and political events) and three pull factors (finding a sense of belonging, radical content online, and inspiration from manifestos). With the exception of inspiration from manifestos, the findings were mostly in line with the assumption that the push/pull factors of ecofascists would be similar to those of right-wing extremists. It should be noted however that due to the small sample size, these results are not necessarily generalizable to the broader group of ecofascists.Show less
