Going Online or On-Street? : A Social Network Analysis of the Far-Right Environment in the United Kingdom

A good illustration of the key findings and the questions posed in this thesis can be made through a brief story. In its advent, the ambition of this project was to understand why the far-right – and the anti-Islamic environment in particular – in exactly the United Kingdom was so successful at mobilizing to large-scale demonstrations and causing what seemed like a national havoc. After a period of gathering insight into British far-right radicalism, collecting data, and putting it all in a theoretical context, it was however realized that the question initially posed itself was misleading. The far-right – despite a growing presence online and in the media – was neither successful in the context of organizing on-street demonstrations nor able to form strong alliances in the demonstrations being held. Simultaneously, through the data collection it was observed that that the environment nevertheless was strongly represented in the online sphere. Thus, this thesis analyses and discusses this apparent discrepancy between what I dub the online and on-street mobilization of the British far-right. This is done through an analysis of the networks which are created online in the form of hyperlinks between the far-right actors. The first key finding is that British far-right groups are connected and engaging in relations online to a much weaker degree than firstly anticipated. This finding is subsequently analysed and discussed in the light of key attributes and mechanisms known to influence the mobilizing potential of the far-right scene. From this analysis and discussion it is argued that the online sphere may provide strong opportunities for single groups and ideologically oriented actors to mobilize, but that this in itself often prevents the potential for large-scale alliances and mobilization of the environment as a whole. The issues of acting collectively are not overcome on a group level, due to each group’s ideological and local orientation. Even more, the online sphere has despite of its influence on on-street mobilization, often become the end stop of the radical journey of new far-right actors. In other words, the British far-right environment fails to become a strong social network online and on-street