Citation

Bjørgo T, Braddock K. Perspect. Terror. 2022; 16(6): 2-8.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Terrorism Research Initiative and the Center for Terrorism and Security Studies)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

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Abstract

In recent years, intelligence and security agencies have identified "anti-government extremism" (AGE) as an emerging threat to democracy, political processes, institutions, and elected politicians.[1] However, this term is used to refer to a rather wide range of phenomena, movements, ideas and actions, and it is not always clear what exactly makes such manifestations extremist rather than being considered legitimate expressions of political dissent. We hope that this Special Issue of Perspectives on Terrorism will contribute to open a scholarly discussion on these issues and give us a better grasp on this slippery AGE concept and phenomenon.

Anti-government extremism finds different expressions in terms of organizational formations, conspiracy theories, collective action, and violence and threats against politicians and government representatives. These different expressions are loosely connected or combined in the sense that specific AGE movements tend to adhere to some conspiracy theories to justify certain forms of action, whether that be collective demonstrations or individual violence. In some cases, the conspiracy theory (e.g., QAnon) is the driver behind the formation of a social movement that takes a variety of action routes, such as mass demonstrations or violent attacks by individual persons...

Language: en