White Separatism and the Politics of the American Extreme Right examines the politics and transformation of the American far right in the post-civil rights era, exploring shifts in ideology and activity over three periods of of transformation: those following civil rights, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the election of Barack Obama, the first African-American President. With close attention to the most recent period in the transformation of the extreme right - a period during which it has experienced a resurgence - this book focuses on the Christian Patriot movement and its three most prominent representatives, Posse Comitatus, Aryan Nations and The Order, examining the responses of the far right to specific developments in the political landscape and its shift from from white supremacy and nationalism to white separatism, from state-supportive racism to anti-government enmity and from electoral activism to paramilitarisation and armed insurgency. Drawing on interviews with government monitoring agencies, as well as literature produced by the political organisations under examination and reports from law enforcement and 'watchdog' groups, the book investigates the responses of the state, anti-racist and anti-extremist monitoring agencies, whilst discussing comparisons and links between the American extreme right and far right groups in Europe and the United Kingdom. A rigorous study of ideological transformation amongst racist political organisations, White Separatism and the Politics of the American Extreme Right will appeal to sociologists and political scientists concerned with questions of racism and the politics of the contemporary United States.

Author Biography

Aaron Winter is Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of East London, UK and co-editor of Discourses and Practices of Terrorism.