Theorising Violent Extremisms: Anthropological and Psychoanalytic Perspectives

Abstract

Muslim Violent Extremism (MVE) and Far-Right Extremism (FRE) are two sides of the same coin. Despite profound ideological differences they share sociological and psychological features. This article relies on anthropological, linguistic, psychological and psychoanalytic theory to explain the ways in which, despite irreconcilable semantics, they share a common syntactic structure. It is based on ethnographic research in Indonesia, Nigeria and the United Kingdom and the analysis of extremist texts. Muslim VE and FRE movements are what Wallace (1956) described as revitalisation movements bent on destroying the existing social order and replacing it with a utopia based on the vision of a charismatic leader. Both exhibit characteristics described by Freud (1922), including narcissistic leaders who Nietzsche (1883) described as the ubermench (superman). Together they form what Levi Strauss (1955) described as a transformation group.

Keywords: Muslim Violent Extremists (MVE), Far-Right Extremism (FRE), Revitalisation movement, anthropology, psychoanalysis.