Africa Morocco Morocco saw a spread of
ultranationalism,
antifeminism, and
opposition to immigration themes in digital spaces.
Rwanda A number of far-right extremist and paramilitary groups carried out the
Rwandan genocide under the
racial supremacist ideology of
Hutu Power, developed by journalist and Hutu supremacist
Hassan Ngeze. On 5 July 1975, exactly two years after the
1973 Rwandan coup d'état, the far right
National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND) was founded under president
Juvénal Habyarimana. Between 1975 and 1991, the MRND was the only legal political party in the country. It was dominated by
Hutus, particularly from Habyarimana's home region of Northern Rwanda. An elite group of MRND party members who were known to have influence on the President and his wife
Agathe Habyarimana are known as the
akazu, an informal organization of Hutu extremists whose members planned and led the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Félicien Kabuga, a prominent Hutu businessman and member of the
akazu, was a leading financier of the genocide; he provided thousands of machetes, which were the usual weapons used to kill. Kabuga also founded
Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines, used to broadcast propaganda and direct the
génocidaires. Kabuga was arrested in France on 16 May 2020, and charged with
crimes against humanity.
Interahamwe The Interahamwe was formed around 1990 as the
youth wing of the MRND and enjoyed the backing of the Hutu Power government. The Interahamwe were driven out of Rwanda after
Tutsi-led
Rwandan Patriotic Front victory in the Rwandan Civil War in July 1994 and are considered a
terrorist organization by many African and Western governments. The Interahamwe and splinter groups such as the
Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda continue to wage an
insurgency against Rwanda from neighboring countries, where they are also involved in local conflicts and terrorism. The Interahamwe were the main perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide, during which an estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 Tutsi,
Twa and moderate Hutus were killed from April to July 1994 and the term
Interahamwe was widened to mean any civilian bands killing Tutsi.
Coalition for the Defence of the Republic Other far-right groups and paramilitaries involved included the
anti-democratic segregationist Coalition for the Defence of the Republic (CDR), which called for complete segregation of Hutus from Tutsis. The CDR had a paramilitary wing known as the
Impuzamugambi. Together with the Interahamwe militia, the Impuzamugambi played a central role in the Rwandan genocide. The HNP was formed after the South African National Party re-established diplomatic relations with
Malawi and legislated to allow
Māori players and spectators to enter the country during the 1970
New Zealand rugby union team tour in South Africa. The HNP advocated for a
Calvinist, racially segregated and
Afrikaans-speaking nation.
Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging In 1973,
Eugène Terre'Blanche, a former
police officer founded the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (Afrikaner Resistance Movement), a South African
neo-Nazi paramilitary organization, often described as a
white supremacist group. Since its founding in 1973 by Eugène Terre'Blanche and six other far-right Afrikaners, it has been dedicated to
secessionist Afrikaner nationalism and the creation of an independent
Boer-Afrikaner republic in part of South Africa. During
negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa in the early 1990s, the organization terrorized and killed black South Africans.
Togo Togo has been ruled by members of the Gnassingbé family and the far-right
military dictatorship formerly known as the
Rally of the Togolese People since 1969. Despite the legalization of political parties in 1991 and the ratification of a democratic constitution in 1992, the regime continues to be regarded as oppressive. In 1993, the European Union cut off aid in reaction to the regime's human-rights offenses. After's Eyadema's death in 2005, his son Faure Gnassingbe took over, then stood down and was re-elected in elections that were widely described as fraudulent and occasioned violence that resulted in as many as 600 deaths and the flight from Togo of 40,000 refugees. In 2012, Faure Gnassingbe dissolved the RTP and created the
Union for the Republic. Throughout the reign of the Gnassingbé family, Togo has been extremely oppressive. According to a
United States Department of State report based on conditions in 2010, human rights abuses are common and include "security force use of excessive force, including
torture, which resulted in deaths and injuries; official impunity; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrests and detention; lengthy pretrial detention; executive influence over the judiciary; infringement of citizens' privacy rights; restrictions on
freedoms of press,
assembly, and movement; official corruption; discrimination and violence against women; child abuse, including female genital mutilation (FGM), and sexual exploitation of children; regional and ethnic discrimination; trafficking in persons, especially women and children; societal discrimination against persons with disabilities; official and societal discrimination against homosexual persons; societal discrimination against persons with
HIV; and forced labor, including by children."
Americas Brazil in
Presidente Bernardes, Brazil, circa 1935. During the 1920s and 1930s, a local brand of religious fascism appeared known as
Brazilian Integralism, coalescing around the party known as
Brazilian Integralist Action. It adopted many characteristics of European fascist movements, including a green-shirted
paramilitary organization with
uniformed ranks, highly regimented street demonstrations and rhetoric against
Marxism and
liberalism. Prior to World War II, the Nazi Party had been making and distributing propaganda among ethnic Germans in Brazil. The Nazi regime built close ties with Brazil through the estimated 100 thousand native Germans and 1 million German descendants living in Brazil at the time. In 1928, the Brazilian section of the Nazi Party was founded in Timbó, Santa Catarina. This section reached 2,822 members and was the largest section of the Nazi Party outside Germany. About 100 thousand born Germans and about one million descendants lived in Brazil at that time. After Germany's defeat in World War II, many Nazi war criminals fled to Brazil and hid among the German-Brazilian communities. The most notable example of this was
Josef Mengele, a Nazi SS officer and physician known as the "Angel of Death" for his deadly experiments on prisoners at the
Auschwitz II (Birkenau) concentration camp, who fled first to Argentina, then Paraguay, before finally settling in Brazil in 1960. Mengele eventually drowned in 1979 in
Bertioga, on the coast of São Paulo state, without ever having been recognized in his 19 years in Brazil. The far right has continued to operate throughout Brazil and a number of far-right parties existed in the modern era including
Patriota, the
Brazilian Labour Renewal Party, the
Party of the Reconstruction of the National Order, the
National Renewal Alliance and the
Social Liberal Party as well as
death squads such as the
Command for Hunting Communists. Former
President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro was a member of the
Alliance for Brazil, a far-right nationalist political group that aimed to become a political party, until 2022, when the party was disbanded. Since 2022, he is a member of the
Liberal Party. Bolsonaro has been widely described by numerous media organizations as far right.
Canada Guatemala In Guatemala, the far-right government of
Carlos Castillo Armas utilized
death squads after coming to power in the
1954 Guatemalan coup d'état. The new government promptly reversed the democratic reforms initiated during the
Guatemalan Revolution and the
agrarian reform program (
Decree 900) that was the main project of president
Jacobo Arbenz Guzman and which directly impacted the interests of both the
United Fruit Company and the Guatemalan landowners. Mano Blanca, otherwise known as the Movement of Organized Nationalist Action, was set up in 1966 as a front for the MLN to carry out its more violent activities, along with many other similar groups, including the New Anticommunist Organization and the Anticommunist Council of Guatemala. Mano Blanca was active during the governments of colonel
Carlos Arana Osorio and general
Kjell Laugerud García and was dissolved by general
Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia in 1978. Armed with the support and coordination of the Guatemalan Armed Forces, Mano Blanca began a campaign described by the United States Department of State as one of "kidnappings, torture, and
summary execution." Overall, Mano Blanca was responsible for thousands of murders and kidnappings, leading travel writer
Paul Theroux to refer to them as "Guatemala's version of a volunteer Gestapo unit".
Chile Augusto Pinochet meeting with
United States President George H. W. Bush in 1990 The
National Socialist Movement of Chile (MNSCH) was created in the 1930s with the funding from the German population in Chile. In 1938, the MNSCH was dissolved after
it attempted a coup and recreated itself as the
Popular Freedom Alliance party, later merging with the Agrarian Party to create the
Agrarian Labor Party (PAL). PAL would go through various mergers to become the , then
National Action and finally the
National Party. Following the fall of Nazi Germany, many Nazis fled to Chile. The National Party supported the
1973 Chilean coup d'état that established the
military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet with many members assuming positions in Pinochet's government. Pinochet headed a far-right dictatorship in Chile from 1973 to 1990. According to author
Peter Levenda, Pinochet was "openly pro-Nazi" and used former
Gestapo members to train his own
Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA) personnel. The
Central Intelligence Agency and
Simon Wiesenthal also provided evidence of
Josef Mengelethe infamous Nazi
concentration camp doctor known as the "Angel of Death" for his lethal
experiments on human subjectsbeing present in
Colonia Dignidad. Following the end of Pinochet's government, the National Party would split to become the more centrist
National Renewal (RN), while individuals who supported Pinochet organized
Independent Democratic Union (UDI). UDI is a far-right political party that was formed by former Pinochet officials. In 2019, the far-right
Republican Party was founded by
José Antonio Kast, a UDI politician who believed his former party criticized Pinochet too often. According to Cox and Blanco, the Republican Party appeared in Chilean politics in a similar manner to Spain's
Vox party, with both parties splitting off from an existing right wing party to collect disillusioned voters.
El Salvador that occurred during the civil war During the
Salvadoran Civil War, far-right death squads known in Spanish by the name of
Escuadrón de la Muerte, literally "Squadron of Death, achieved notoriety when a
sniper assassinated Archbishop
Óscar Romero while he was saying
mass in March 1980. In December 1980,
three American nuns and a lay worker were
gangraped and murdered by a military unit later found to have been acting on specific orders. Death squads were instrumental in killing thousands of peasants and activists. Funding for the squads came primarily from right-wing Salvadoran businessmen and landowners. El Salvadorian death squads indirectly received arms, funding, training and advice during the
Jimmy Carter,
Ronald Reagan and
George H. W. Bush administrations. Some death squads such as
Sombra Negra are still operating in El Salvador.
Honduras Honduras also had far-right death squads active through the 1980s, the most notorious of which was
Battalion 3–16. Hundreds of people, teachers, politicians and union bosses were assassinated by government-backed forces. Battalion 316 received substantial support and training from the United States through the Central Intelligence Agency. At least nineteen members were
School of the Americas graduates. As of mid-2006, seven members, including
Billy Joya, later played important roles in the administration of President
Manuel Zelaya. Following the
2009 Honduran constitutional crisis, former Battalion 3–16 member
Nelson Willy Mejía Mejía became Director-General of Immigration and Billy Joya was
de facto President
Roberto Micheletti's security advisor.
Napoleón Nassar Herrera, another former Battalion 3–16 member, was high Commissioner of Police for the north-west region under Zelaya and under Micheletti, even becoming a Secretary of Security spokesperson "for dialogue" under Micheletti. Zelaya claimed that Joya had reactivated the death squad, with dozens of government opponents having been murdered since the ascent of the Michiletti and Lobo governments.
Peru Fujimorism , the creator of
Fujimorism During the
internal conflict in Peru and a struggling presidency of
Alan García, the
Peruvian Armed Forces created
Plan Verde, initially a coup plan that involved establishing a government that would carry out the
genocide of impoverished and indigenous Peruvians, the control or
censorship of media and the establishment of a
neoliberal economy controlled by a
military junta in Peru. Military planners also decided against the coup as they expected
Mario Vargas Llosa, a neoliberal candidate, to be elected in the
1990 Peruvian general election. Vargas Llosa later reported that
Anthony C. E. Quainton, the
United States Ambassador to Peru, personally told him that allegedly leaked documents of the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) purportedly being supportive of his opponent
Alberto Fujimori were authentic, reportedly due to Fujimori's relationship with
Vladimiro Montesinos, a former
National Intelligence Service (SIN) officer who was tasked with spying on the Peruvian military for the CIA. An agreement was ultimately adopted between the armed forces and Fujimori after he was inaugurated president, and conservative traits that is still prevalent throughout Peru's institutions, leading Peru through the
1992 Peruvian coup d'état until he fled to
Japan in 2000 during the
Vladivideos scandal. Following
Alberto Fujimori's arrest and trial, his daughter
Keiko Fujimori assumed leadership of the Fujimorist movement and established
Popular Force, a far-right political party. The
2016 Peruvian general election resulted with the party holding the most power in the
Congress of Peru from 2016 to 2019, marking the beginning of a
political crisis. Following the
2021 Peruvian general election, far-right politician
Rafael López Aliaga and his party
Popular Renewal rose in popularity and a far-right Congress – with the body's largest far-right bloc being Popular Force, Popular Renewal and
Advance Country – was elected into office. Following the election,
La Resistencia Dios, Patria y Familia, a
neofascist militant organization would promote Fujimorism and oppose President
Pedro Castillo.
United States In
United States politics, the terms "extreme right", "far-right", and "ultra-right" are labels used to describe "militant forms of insurgent revolutionary right ideology and separatist ethnocentric nationalism", according to
The Public Eye. the
National Alliance, These far-right groups share
conspiracist views of power which are overwhelmingly
antisemitic and reject
pluralist democracy in favor of an
organic oligarchy that would unite the perceived homogeneously racial
Völkish nation.
Radical right parade in Washington, D.C., September 1926 Starting in the 1870s and continuing through the late 19th century, numerous
white supremacist paramilitary groups operated in
the South, with the goal of organizing against and intimidating supporters of the
Republican Party. Examples of such groups included the
Red Shirts and the
White League. The
Second Ku Klux Klan, which was formed in 1915, combined
Protestant fundamentalism and moralism with right-wing extremism. Its major support came from the urban South,
the Midwest, and the
Pacific Coast. While the Klan initially drew
upper middle class support, its bigotry and violence alienated these members and it came to be dominated by less educated and poorer members. Between the 1920s and the 1930s, the Ku Klux Klan developed an explicitly
nativist, pro-
Anglo-Saxon Protestant,
anti-Catholic,
anti-Irish,
anti-Italian, and
anti-Jewish stance in relation to the growing political, economic, and social uncertainty related to the
arrival of European immigrants on the American soil, predominantly composed of
Irish people,
Italians, and
Eastern European Jews. The Ku Klux Klan claimed that there was a secret Catholic army within the United States loyal to the
Pope, that one million
Knights of Columbus were arming themselves, and that
Irish-American policemen would shoot
Protestants as heretics. Their sensationalistic claims eventually developed into full-blown
political conspiracy theories, to the point that the Klan claimed that
Roman Catholics were planning to take Washington and put the Vatican in power and that
all presidential assassinations had been carried out by Roman Catholics. The prominent Klan leader
D. C. Stephenson believed in the
antisemitic canard of
Jewish control of finance, claiming that international Jewish bankers were behind the
World War I and planned to destroy economic opportunities for Christians. Other Klansmen believed in the
Jewish Bolshevism conspiracy theory and claimed that the
Russian Revolution and
communism were orchestrated by
Jews. They frequently reprinted parts of
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and
New York City was condemned as an evil city controlled by Jews and Roman Catholics. The objects of the Klan fear tended to vary by locale and included
African Americans as well as American
Roman Catholics,
Jews,
labour unions,
liquor,
Orientals, and
Wobblies. They were also anti-elitist and attacked "the intellectuals", seeing themselves as egalitarian defenders of the common man. During the
Great Depression, there were a large number of small nativist groups, whose ideologies and bases of support were similar to those of earlier nativist groups. However, proto-fascist movements such as
Huey Long's
Share Our Wealth and
Charles Coughlin's
National Union for Social Justice emerged which differed from other right-wing groups by attacking big business, calling for economic reforms, and rejecting nativism. Coughlin's group later developed a
racist ideology. During the
Cold War and the
Red Scares, the far right "saw spies and communists influencing government and entertainment. Thus, despite bipartisan
anticommunism in the United States, it was the right that mainly fought the great ideological battle against the communists." The
John Birch Society, founded in 1958, is a prominent example of a far-right organization mainly concerned with anti-communism and the perceived threat of communism. Neo-Nazi militant
Robert Jay Matthews of the White supremacist group
The Order came to support the John Birch Society, especially when
conservative icon
Barry Goldwater from Arizona ran for the presidency on the
Republican Party ticket. Far-right conservatives consider
John Birch to be the first casualty of the Cold War. In the 1990s, many conservatives turned against then-President
George H. W. Bush, who pleasured neither the Republican Party's more moderate and far-right wings. As a result, Bush was primared by
Pat Buchanan. In the 2000s, critics of President
George W. Bush's conservative unilateralism argued it can be traced to both Vice President
Dick Cheney who embraced the policy since the early 1990s and to far-right Congressmen who won their seats during the conservative revolution of 1994. and the 2016
occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. rally on the west lawn of the
US Capitol, Washington, DC, 2008 After the
September 11 attacks in 2001, the
counter-jihad movement, supported by groups such as
Stop Islamization of America and individuals such as
Frank Gaffney and
Pamela Geller, began to gain traction among the American right. The counter-jihad members were widely dubbed "
Islamophobic" for their
vocal criticism of the Islamic religion and
its founder Muhammad, and their belief that there was a significant threat posed by Muslims living in America. Chetan Bhatt, in
White Extinction: Metaphysical Elements of Contemporary Western Fascism, says that "The 'fear of white extinction', and related ideas of
population eugenics, have travelled far and represent a wider political anxiety about 'white displacement' in the US, UK, and Europe that has fuelled the right-wing phenomena referred to by that sanitizing word '
populism', a term that neatly evades attention to the racism and white majoritarianism that energizes it."
Asia India Bharatiya Janata Party in India has been claimed to combine economic nationalism with
religious nationalism.
Indonesia Some
islamists in Indonesia are far-right.
Iran The two main political camps in today's Iran are
Principlists and
Reformists. Principlists, especially "
Neoconservatives", have far-right and ultra-conservative views.
Iraq Hawpa is a Kurdish Neo-Nazi organization in Iraq.
Israel Kach was a radical
Orthodox Jewish,
religious Zionist political party in Israel, existing from 1971 to 1994. Founded by Rabbi
Meir Kahane in 1971, based on his Jewish-Orthodox-nationalist ideology subsequently known as
Kahanism, which held the view that most
Arabs living in Israel are enemies of Jews and Israel itself, and believed that a
Jewish theocratic state, where non-Jews have no voting rights, should be created. The party secured a single seat in the
Knesset in the
1984 election, but was subsequently barred from standing in elections, and both it and Kahanist organizations were banned outright in 1994 by the
Israeli cabinet under 1948 anti-
terrorism laws, following statements by it in support of the 1994
Cave of the Patriarchs massacre by a Kach supporter. In 2015, the Kach party and Kahanist movement were believed to have an overlapping membership of fewer than 100 people, with links to the modern party
Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, which, running on a
Kahanist and
anti-Arab platform, won six seats in the
2022 Israeli legislative election, having run jointly with fellow far-right parties
Religious Zionist Party and
Noam. The
thirty-seventh government of Israel which formed after the
2022 Israeli legislative election as subsequently been critiqued as Israel's most hardline and far-right government to date. The coalition government consists of six parties:
Likud,
United Torah Judaism,
Shas,
Otzma Yehudit,
Religious Zionist Party and
Noam, so having half of its coalition partners hailing from the far-right. The government has been noted for its significant shift towards far-right policies, and the appointment of controversial far-right politicians, including
Itamar Ben-Gvir and
Bezalel Smotrich, to positions of considerable influence.
Ties with European far-right There is also a complex relationship between Israel and the European far-right that has been developing for more than 15 years. The first major public sign of their alliance was in 2010 at an international far-right conference in Tel Aviv organized by a Likud party member. A primary motivation is a shared anti-Islam ideology but there is also a common dislike of the European Union, of Arab and Muslim immigrants as well as support for undermining democracy and installing autocratic, or worse, rulers and regimes. "Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister's son, last week called for the death of the European Union and the return of a "Christian" Europe." Other details suggest a deeper collaboration between the
Likud party and the
German AfD. "In 2019, the Bundestag passed a resolution condemning B.D.S. as antisemitic..The history of the resolution is telling. A version was originally introduced by the AfD" Netanyahu's government has actively cultivated relations with various European far-right parties and leaders, including Vlaams Belang, Attack, the Freedom Party of Austria, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians and the Sweden Democrats. These parties offer strong support for Israel's hardline policies towards Palestinians, its opposition to Palestinian statehood, and its pro-settlement stance. Netanyahu has also cultivated a particularly strong bond with
Viktor Orbán's
Fidesz party in Hungary, a key figure in the European far-right landscape. The
Likud party recently joined the
Patriots for Europe alliance in the
European Parliament as an observer member.
Japan at the square of
Kinshichō Station in
Sumida, Tokyo (2010) In 1996, the
National Police Agency estimated that there were over 1,000 extremist right-wing groups in
Japan, with about 100,000 members in total. These groups are known in Japanese as
Uyoku dantai. While there are political differences among the groups, they generally carry a philosophy of
anti-leftism,
hostility towards China,
North Korea and South Korea, and justification of
Japan's role and
war crimes in World War II.
Uyoku dantai groups are well known for their highly visible
propaganda vehicles fitted with loudspeakers and prominently marked with the name of the group and propaganda slogans. The vehicles play patriotic or wartime-era Japanese songs. Activists affiliated with such groups have used
Molotov cocktails and
time bombs to intimidate moderate Japanese politicians and public figures, including former Deputy Foreign Minister Hitoshi Tanaka and
Fuji Xerox Chairman
Yotaro Kobayashi. An ex-member of a right-wing group set fire to
Liberal Democratic Party politician
Koichi Kato's house. Koichi Kato and Yotaro Kobayashi had spoken out against Koizumi's visits to
Yasukuni Shrine. Openly revisionist,
Nippon Kaigi is considered "the biggest right-wing organization in Japan."
Malaysia Far-right
non-governmental organizations have been appropriating
human rights language in Malaysia.
South Korea Since the founding of the
South Korea in 1948,
authoritarian conservative dictatorships such as
Syngman Rhee,
Park Chung-hee, and
Chun Doo-hwan have continued until 1987.
Yoon Suk Yeol, who was sworn in as South Korea's president from 2022 to 2025, is criticized for far-right political views.
Taiwan (Republic of China) Before 1992 In 1947, the
February 28 incident was created by the
Kuomintang–led
nationalist government. In the aftermath of this incident,
martial law was enforced in Taiwan from 1949, and the
Great Retreat took place the same year.
Chiang Kai-shek ruled authoritarian conservative,
anti-communist and
Chinese ultranationalist. Until martial law was lifted in 1987,
Taiwanese nationalists,
leftists and
liberals were politically suppressed.
After 1992 (PAA) In modern Taiwanese politics after
1992 Consensus, the 'mainstream' political left advocated
Taiwanese nationalism (including
independence) and the political right defended
Chinese nationalism (including
unification). As a result, Taiwan's political landscape is somewhat unique from Western countries; the "far-right"
New Party,
Patriot Alliance Association, and others advocate for
one country, two systems, the unification policy proposed by the
Chinese Communist Party. These far-right [Chinese] nationalists are sometimes referred to as "radical pro-unification factions" (). Some radical Taiwanese nationalists are also considered far-right: the
Taiwan Statebuilding Party is officially a "left-wing" in support of Taiwanese independence, but is also referred to as "far-right" due to
anti-Chinese nativism; the
Taiwanese Localism Front, a radical anti-communist organization, is also referred to as the far-right; ultra-nationalistic actions of the pro-independence
Pan-Green Coalition (led by the
Democratic Progressive Party) have been dubbed the "
Green Terror".
Europe Armenia The
Armenian-Aryan Racialist Political Movement and the
Adequate Party are the main far-right political movements in
Armenia.
Croatia Individuals and groups in Croatia that employ far-right politics are most often associated with the historical
Ustaše movement, hence they have connections to
neo-Nazism and
neo-fascism. That World War II political movement was an extremist organization at the time supported by the
German Nazis and the
Italian Fascists. The association with the Ustaše has been called neo-Ustashism by
Slavko Goldstein. Most active far-right political parties in Croatia openly state their continuity with the Ustaše. These include the
Croatian Party of Rights and
Authentic Croatian Party of Rights. The coalition led by
Miroslav Škoro's far-right
Homeland Movement came third at the
2020 parliamentary election, winning 10.9% of the vote and 16 seats.
Estonia speaking in 1933 Estonia's most significant far-right movement was the
Vaps movement. Its ideological predecessor Valve Liit was founded by Admiral
Johan Pitka and later banned for maligning the government. The organization became politicized quickly Vaps soon turned into a mass fascist movement. In 1933, Estonians voted on Vaps' proposed changes to the constitution and the party later won a large proportion of the vote. However, the State Elder Konstantin Päts declared state of emergency and imprisoned the leadership of the Vaps. In 1935, all political parties were banned. In 1935, a Vaps coup attempt was discovered, which led to the banning of the Finnish
Patriotic People's Movement's
youth wing that had been secretly aiding and arming them. During World War II, the
Estonian Self-Administration was a collaborationist pro-Nazi government set up in Estonia, headed by Vaps member
Hjalmar Mäe. In the 21st century, the coalition-governing
Conservative People's Party of Estonia been described as far right. The neo-Nazi terrorist organization
Feuerkrieg Division was found and operates in the country, with some members of the
Conservative People's Party of Estonia having been linked to the Feuerkrieg Division. The party's youth organization
Blue Awakening organizes an annual torchlight march through
Tallinn on Estonia's
Independence Day. The event has been harshly criticized by the
Simon Wiesenthal Center that described it as "Nuremberg-esque" and likened the ideology of the participants to that of the
Estonian Nazi collaborators.
Finland , a show of force in Helsinki by the
Lapua Movement on 7 July 1930 In Finland, support for the far right was most widespread between 1920 and 1940 when the
Academic Karelia Society,
Lapua Movement,
Patriotic People's Movement and
Vientirauha operated in the country and had hundreds of thousands of members. Far-right groups exercised considerable political power during this period, pressuring the government to outlaw communist parties and newspapers and expel
Freemasons from the armed forces. During the Cold War, all parties deemed fascist were banned according to the
Paris Peace Treaties and all former fascist activists had to find new political homes. Despite
Finlandization, many continued in public life. Three former members of the Waffen SS served as ministers of defense;
Sulo Suorttanen and
Pekka Malinen as well as
Mikko Laaksonen. addressing an
SKJ meeting The skinhead culture gained momentum during the late 1980s and peaked during the late 1990s. Numerous hate crimes were committed against refugees, including a number of racially motivated murders. Today, the most prominent neo-Nazi group is the
Nordic Resistance Movement, which is tied to multiple murders, attempted murders and assaults of political enemies was found in 2006 and proscribed in 2019. Prominent far-right parties include the
Blue-and-Black Movement and
Power Belongs to the People. The second biggest Finnish party, the
Finns Party, has been described as far right. The former leader of the Finns party and current speaker of the Parliament
Jussi Halla-aho, has been convicted of hate speech due to his comments stating that, "Prophet Muhammad was a pedophile and Islam justifies pedophilia and Pedophilia was Allah's will." Finns Party members have frequently supported far-right and neo-Nazi movements such as the Finnish Defense League, Soldiers of Odin, Nordic Resistance Movement, Rajat Kiinni (Close the Borders), and Suomi Ensin (Finland First). " In the 1990s and 2000s, before the breakthrough of the Finns Party, a few neo-Nazi candidates enjoyed success, like Janne Kujala of
Finland - Fatherland (founded as Aryan Germanic Brotherhood) and
Jouni Lanamäki who was previously associated with the
Nordic Reich Party.
Pekka Siitoin of the
National Democracy Party was the fifth most popular candidate in
Naantali city council elections. The NRM and Finns party and other far-right groups organize
an annual torch march demonstration in Helsinki in memory of the Finnish SS-battalion on the
Finnish independence day which ends at the
Hietaniemi cemetery where members visit the tomb of
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim and the monument to the
Finnish SS Battalion. The event is protested by antifascists, leading to counterdemonstrators being violently assaulted by NRM members who act as security. The demonstration attracts close to 3,000 participants according to the estimates of the police and hundreds of officers patrol Helsinki to prevent violent clashes.
France demonstration in France, 2017 The largest far-right party in Europe is the French anti-immigration party
National Rally, formally known as the National Front. The party was founded in 1972, uniting a variety of French far-right groups under the leadership of
Jean-Marie Le Pen. Since 1984, it has been the major force of
French nationalism. Jean-Marie Le Pen's daughter
Marine Le Pen was elected to succeed him as party leader in 2012. Under Jean-Marie Le Pen's leadership, the party sparked outrage for hate speech, including
Holocaust denial and
Islamophobia.
Germany In 1945, the
Allied powers took control of Germany and banned the
swastika,
Nazi Party and the publication of . Explicitly
Nazi and
neo-Nazi organizations are banned in Germany. In 1960, the West German parliament voted unanimously to "make it illegal to incite hatred, to provoke violence, or to insult, ridicule or defame 'parts of the population' in a manner apt to breach the peace." German law outlaws anything that "approves of, glorifies or justifies the violent and despotic rule of the National Socialists." In the 21st century, the German far right consists of various small parties and two larger groups, namely
Alternative for Germany (AfD) and
Pegida. In March 2021, the Germany domestic intelligence agency
Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution placed the AfD under surveillance, the first time in the post-war period that a main opposition party had been subjected to such scrutiny. In contemporary Germany, Far-right parties such as
National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD),
German People's Union (DVU) and
Alternative for Germany (AfD) are stronger in
eastern Germany.
Greece Metaxism The far right in Greece first came to power under the ideology of Metaxism, a
proto-fascist ideology developed by dictator
Ioannis Metaxas. Metaxism called for the regeneration of the Greek nation and the establishment of an ethnically homogeneous state. Metaxism disparaged
liberalism, and held individual interests to be subordinate to those of the nation, seeking to mobilize the Greek people as a disciplined mass in service to the creation of a "new Greece". The Metaxist government derived its authority from the conservative establishment and its doctrines strongly supported traditional institutions such as the
Greek Orthodox Church and the
Greek Royal Family; essentially
reactionary, it lacked the radical theoretical dimensions of ideologies such as
Italian Fascism and
German Nazism. The occupation ruined the Greek economy and brought about terrible hardships for the Greek civilian population. The Jewish population of Greece was nearly eradicated. Of its pre-war population of 75–77,000, only around 11–12,000 survived, either by joining the resistance or being hidden. Following the short-lived interim government of
Georgios Papandreou, the military seized power in Greece during the
1967 Greek coup d'état, replacing the interim government with the right-wing United States-backed
Greek junta. The Junta was a series of
military juntas that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974. The
dictatorship was characterized by right-wing cultural policies, restrictions on
civil liberties and the imprisonment, torture and exile of
political opponents. The junta's rule ended on 24 July 1974 under the pressure of the
Turkish invasion of Cyprus, leading to the
Metapolitefsi ("regime change") to democracy and the establishment of the
Third Hellenic Republic. Until 2019, the dominant far-right party in Greece in the 21st century was the
neo-Nazi and Mataxist inspired
Golden Dawn. At the
May 2012 Greek legislative election, Golden Dawn won 21 seats in the Hellenic Parliament, receiving 6.97% of the vote. It became the third largest party in the Greek Parliament with 17 seats after the
January 2015 election, winning 6.28% of the vote. Founded by
Nikolaos Michaloliakos, Golden Dawn had its origins in the movement that worked towards a return to right-wing military dictatorship in Greece. Following an investigation into the 2013
murder of Pavlos Fyssas, an anti-fascist rapper, by a supporter of the party, Michaloliakos and several other Golden Dawn parliamentarians and members were arrested and held in
pre-trial detention on suspicion of forming a criminal organization. The trial began on 20 April 2015 and eventually led to the conviction of 7 of its leaders for heading a criminal organization and 61 other defendants for participating in a criminal organization. Guilty verdicts on charges of murder, attempted murder, and violent attacks on immigrants and left-wing political opponents were also delivered and prison sentences of a combined total of over 500 years were handed out. Golden Dawn later lost all of its remaining seats in the Greek Parliament in the
2019 Greek legislative election, and a 2020 survey showed the party's popularity plummeting to just 1.5%, down from 2.9% in previous year's elections. This means that the largest party in Greece that is considered right wing to far right is
Greek Solution, which has been described as ideologically
ultranationalist and
right-wing populist. The party garnered 3.7% of the vote in the
2019 Greek legislative election, winning 10 out of the 300 seats in the
Hellenic Parliament and 4.18% of the vote in the
2019 European Parliament election in Greece, winning one seat in the
European Parliament.
Italy The far right has maintained a continuous political presence in Italy since the fall of Mussolini. The
neo-fascist party
Italian Social Movement (1946–1995), influenced by the previous
Italian Social Republic (1943–1945), became one of the chief reference points for the European far-right from the end of World War II until the late 1980s.
Silvio Berlusconi and his party dominated politics from 1994. According to some scholars, it gave neo-fascism a new respectability. Caio Giulio Cesare Mussolini, great-grandson of
Benito Mussolini, stood for the
2019 European Parliament election as a member of the far right
Brothers of Italy party. The name is derived from the fascist poet
Ezra Pound. It has also been influenced by the
Manifesto of Verona, the
Labour Charter of 1927 and social legislation of fascism. There has been collaboration between CasaPound and the
identitarian movement. The
European migrant crisis has become an increasingly divisive issue in Italy. Interior Minister
Matteo Salvini has been courting far-right voters. His
Northern League party has become an
anti-immigrant,
nationalist movement. Both parties are using Mussolini nostalgia to further their aims. About 70% of the country's Jewish population were killed during the occupation, a much higher percentage than comparable countries such as Belgium and France. Most of the south of the country was liberated in the second half of 1944. The rest, especially the west and north of the country still under occupation, suffered from a famine at the end of 1944 known as the
Hunger Winter. On 5 May 1945, the whole country was finally liberated by the
total surrender of all German forces. Since the end of World War II, the Netherlands has had a number of small far-right groups and parties, the largest and most successful being the
Party for Freedom led by
Geert Wilders. Other far-right Dutch groups include the neo-Nazi
Dutch People's Union (1973–present), the
Centre Party (1982–1986), the
Centre Party '86 (1986–1998), the
Dutch Block (1992–2000),
New National Party (1998–2005) and the ultranationalist
National Alliance (2003–2007).
Poland march in Kraków, July 2007 Following the collapse of
Communist Poland, a number of far-right groups came to prominence including The
National Revival of Poland, the
European National Front, the
Association for Tradition and Culture "Niklot". The
All-Polish Youth and
National Radical Camp were recreated in 1989 and 1993, respectively becoming Poland's most prominent far-right organizations. In 1995, the
Anti-Defamation League estimated the number of far-right and
white power skinheads in Poland at 2,000. Since late 2000s smaller fascist groups have merged to form the neo-Nazi
Autonome Nationalisten. A number of far-right parties have run candidates in elections including the
League of Polish Families, the
National Movement with limited success. In 2019, the
Confederation Liberty and Independence earned 1,256,953 votes which was 6.81% of the total vote in an election that saw a historically high turnout. Members of far-right groups make up a significant portion of those taking part in the annual Independence March in central Warsaw which started in 2009 to mark
Independence Day. About 60,000 were in the 2017 march marking the 99th anniversary of independence, with placards such as "Clean Blood" seen on the march.
Law and Justice, the previous governing party of Poland, has sometimes been described as far-right, although it is also considered centre-right instead, or it is argued that the party is not far-right, with political scientist Michael Minkerberg arguing that the party is "not a radical right party but right-wing populist".
Romania The preeminent far-right party in Romania is the Greater Romania Party, founded in 1991 by Tudor, who was formerly known as a "
court poet" of
Communist dictator
Nicolae Ceaușescu and his literary mentor, the writer
Eugen Barbu, one year after Tudor launched the
România Mare weekly magazine, which remains the most important propaganda tool of the PRM. Tudor subsequently launched a companion daily newspaper called
Tricolorul. The historical expression
Greater Romania refers to the idea of recreating the former
Kingdom of Romania which existed during the interwar period. Having been the largest entity to bear the name of
Romania, the frontiers were marked with the intent of uniting most territories inhabited by
ethnic Romanians into a single country and it is now a rallying cry for
Romanian nationalists. Due to internal conditions under
Communist Romania after World War II, the expression's use was forbidden in publications until after the
Romanian Revolution in 1989. The party's initial success was partly attributed to the deep rootedness of Ceaușescu's
national communism in Romania. Both the ideology and the main political focus of the Greater Romania Party are reflected in frequently strongly nationalistic articles written by Tudor. The party has called for the outlawing of the ethnic Hungarian party, the
Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, for allegedly plotting the secession of Transylvania.
Russia The period of development of Russian fascism in the 1930s–1940s was characterized by sympathy for
Italian fascism and German
Nazism and pronounced anti-communism and
antisemitism. in the first half of the 20th century. The slogan "Let's get our homeland!" is also used by the modern far-right in Russia. Russian fascism has its roots in the movements known in history as the
Black Hundreds and the
White movement. It was distributed among
white émigré circles living in Germany,
Manchukuo, and the United States. In Germany and the United States (unlike Manchukuo), they practically did not conduct political activity, limiting themselves to the publication of newspapers and brochures. Some ideologues of the white movement, such as
Ivan Ilyin and
Vasily Shulgin, welcomed the coming to power of Mussolini in Italy and Hitler in Germany, offering their comrades-in-arms the fascist "method" as a way to fight socialism, communism, and
godlessness. At the same time, they did not deny fascist
political repression and antisemitism and even justified them. With the outbreak of World War II, Russian fascists in Germany supported Nazi Germany and joined the ranks of Russian collaborators. Some Russian neo-Nazi organizations are part of the international
World Union of National Socialists (WUNS, founded in 1962). As of 2012, six Russian organizations are among the officially registered members of the union: National Resistance, National Socialist Movement – Russian Division, All-Russian Public Patriotic Movement "
Russian National Unity", National Socialist Movement "
Slavic Union" (prohibited by a court decision in June 2010), and others. The following organizations are not included in WUNS: the
National Socialist Society (banned by a court decision in 2010), the
Russian All-National Union (banned in September 2011), and others, such as skinheads: Legion Werewolf (liquidated in 1996), Schultz-88 (liquidated in 2006), White Wolves (liquidated in 2008–2010), New Order (ceased to exist), Russian goal (ceased to exist), and others. Some of the more radical neo-Nazi organizations, using terrorist methods, belonged to skinhead groups such as the Werewolf Legion (liquidated in 1996), Schultz-88 (liquidated in 2006), White Wolves (liquidated in 2008–2010), New Order (ceased to exist), "Russian Goal" (ceased to exist), and others. Until the end of the 1990s, one of the largest parties of Russian national extremists was the neo-Nazi socio-political movement "Russian National Unity" (RNE), founded by
Alexander Barkashov in 1990. At the end of 1999, the RNE made an unsuccessful attempt to take part in the elections to the State Duma. Barkashov considered "true Orthodoxy" as a fusion of Christianity with paganism and advocated the "Russian God" and the "Aryan swastika" allegedly associated with it. He wrote about the Atlanteans, the Etruscans, and the "
Aryan" civilization as the direct predecessors of the Russian nation, in a centuries-old struggle with the "Semites", the "
world Jewish conspiracy", and the "dominance of the Jews in Russia". The symbol of the movement was a modified swastika. Barkashov was a parishioner of the "
True Orthodox ("Catacomb") Church", and the first cells of the RNE were formed as brotherhoods and communities of the RTOC. The ideology of Russian neo-Nazism is closely connected with the ideology of
Slavic neo-paganism (rodnovery). In a number of cases, there are also organizational ties between neo-Nazis and neo-pagans. One of the founders of Russian neo-paganism, the former dissident
Alexey Dobrovolsky (pagan name – Dobroslav) shared the ideas of Nazism and transferred them to his neo-pagan teaching. Modern Russian neo-paganism took shape in the second half of the 1970s and is associated with the activities of Dobrovolsky and Moscow Arabist
Valery Yemelyanov (neo-pagan name – Velemir), These skinheads, however, do not usually practice their religion. Historian Dmitry Shlapentokh wrote that, as in Europe, neo-paganism in Russia pushes some of its adherents to antisemitism. This antisemitism is closely related to negative attitudes towards Asians, and this emphasis on racial factors can lead neo-pagans to neo-Nazism. The tendency of neo-pagans to antisemitism is a logical development of the ideas of neo-paganism and imitation of the Nazis, and is also a consequence of a number of specific conditions of modern Russian politics. Unlike previous regimes, the modern Russian political regime, as well as the ideology of the middle class, combines support for Orthodoxy with
philosemitism and a positive attitude towards Muslims. These features of the regime contributed to the formation of specific views of neo-Nazi neo-pagans, which are represented to a large extent among the socially unprotected and marginalized
Russian youth. In their opinion, power in Russia was usurped by a cabal of conspirators, including hierarchs of the Orthodox Church, Jews, and Muslims. Contrary to external differences, it is believed that these forces have united in their desire to maintain power over the Russian "Aryans".
Serbia in Belgrade, 1920 In the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia, multiple far-right organizations and parties operated during the late
Interwar period such as the
Yugoslav National Movement (Zbor),
Yugoslav Radical Union (JRZ) and
Organization of Yugoslav Nationalists (ORJUNA). Zbor was headed by
Dimitrije Ljotić, who during the
World War II collaborated with the
Axis powers. Ljotić was a supporter of
Italian fascism, and he advocated for the establishment of a
centralized Yugoslav state that would be dominated by Serbs, and a return to Christian traditions. Zbor was the only registered political party in Yugoslavia that openly promoted
antisemitism and
xenophobia. JRZ was registered as a political party in 1934 by
Milan Stojadinović, a right-wing politician who expressed his support towards Italian fascism during his premiership. JRZ was initially a coalition made up of Stojadinović's,
Anton Korošec's and
Mehmed Spaho's supporters, and the party was the main stronghold for
Yugoslav ethnic nationalists and supporters of
Karađorđević dynasty. ORJUNA was a prominent organization in the 1920s that was influenced by fascism. Chetniks were staunchly anti-communist and they supported
monarchism and the creation of a Greater Serbian state. They, including their leader
Draža Mihailović, extensively collaborated with the Axis powers in the second half of the World War II against their common enemy, the
Yugoslav Partisans. After the re-establishment of the multi-party system in
Serbia in 1990, multiple right-wing movements and parties began getting popularity from which the
Serbian Radical Party was the most successful. During the 1990s, SRS has been also described as
neofascist due to their vocal support of
ethnic ultranationalism and
irredentism. Its popularity went into decline after the
2008 election when its acting leader
Tomislav Nikolić seceded from the party to form the
Serbian Progressive Party. Besides SRS, during the 2000s multiple neofascist and
Neo-Nazi movements began getting popular, such as
Nacionalni stroj,
Obraz and
1389 Movement.
Dveri, an organization turned political party, was also a prominent promoter of far-right content, and they were mainly known for their
clerical-fascist,
socially conservative and
anti-Western stances. Since 2019, the far-right
Serbian Party Oathkeepers has gained popularity mainly due to their ultranationalist views, including the openly neofascist
Leviathan Movement.
Slovenia Spain Switzerland The
Swiss People's Party, one of the leading right-wing parties in Switzerland, is widely described as far-right.
United Kingdom The British far-right rose out of the
fascist movement. In 1932,
Oswald Mosley founded the
British Union of Fascists (BUF) which was banned during
World War II. Founded in 1954 by
A. K. Chesterton, the
League of Empire Loyalists became the main British far-right group at the time. It was a
pressure group rather than a political party, and did not contest elections. Most of its members were part of the
Conservative Party and were known for politically embarrassing stunts at party conferences. Other fascist parties included the
White Defence League and the
National Labour Party who merged in 1960 to form the second
British National Party (BNP). With the decline of the
British Empire becoming inevitable, British far-right parties turned their attention to internal matters. The 1950s had seen an increase in immigration to the UK from its former colonies, particularly India, Pakistan, the Caribbean and Uganda. Led by
John Bean and
Andrew Fountaine, the BNP opposed the admittance of these people to the UK. A number of its rallies such as one in 1962 in
Trafalgar Square ended in
race riots. After a few early successes, the party got into difficulties and was destroyed by internal arguments. In 1967 it joined forces with
John Tyndall and the remnants of Chesterton's League of Empire Loyalists to form Britain's largest far-right organization, the
National Front (NF). The BNP and the NF supported extreme
loyalism in
Northern Ireland, and attracted Conservative Party members who had become disillusioned after
Harold Macmillan had recognized the right to independence of the African colonies and had criticized
Apartheid in South Africa. Some Northern Irish
loyalist paramilitaries have links with far-right and
neo-Nazi groups in Britain, including
Combat 18, the
British National Socialist Movement and the NF. In 2004,
The Guardian reported that loyalist paramilitaries had been responsible for numerous racist attacks in loyalist areas. During the 1970s, the NF's rallies became a regular feature of British politics. Election results remained strong in a few
working-class urban areas, with a number of local council seats won, but the party never came anywhere near winning representation in parliament. (BNP) vote share in the 2010 UK general election Since the 1970s, the NF's support has been in decline whilst
Nick Griffin and the current
British National Party (BNP) grew in popularity. Around the turn of the 21st century, the BNP won a number of council seats. At its peak in the late 2000s, the party had 54 local council seats, one seat in the
London Assembly, two seats in the
European Parliament, and were the official opposition in the
Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council. The party received almost a million votes in the
2009 European Parliament elections, and contested the majority of UK parliamentary seats in the
2010 general election. The party's membership was 12,632 and its financial resources were an estimated £1,983,947. The party was accused of shifting towards far-right, anti-Islam politics under the leadership of
Paul Nuttall and
Gerard Batten during its decline in the late 2010s. Anti-Islam activist and former UKIP
leadership candidate Anne Marie Waters established the far-right
For Britain Movement, which gained a small number of ex-BNP councillors. It was deregistered in 2022, and subsequently a large portion of prominent far-right activists began coalescing around the British Democrats, which (following UKIP's loss of its few councillors on 4 May 2023, leaving it with only a few parish and town councillors) quickly established itself as the UK's only far-right party with any electoral representation.
Oceania Australia declares the
Sydney Harbour Bridge open in March 1932. Coming to prominence in
Sydney with the formation of the
New Guard (1931) and the
Centre Party (1933), the far right has played a part in Australian political discourse since the second world war. These
proto-fascist groups were
monarchist, anti-communist and
authoritarian in nature. Early far-right groups were followed by the explicitly fascist
Australia First Movement (1941). The far right in Australia went on to acquire more explicitly racial connotations during the 1960s and 1970s, morphing into self-proclaimed
Nazi,
fascist and
antisemitic movements, organizations that opposed non-white and non-Christian immigration such as the
neo-Nazi National Socialist Party of Australia (1967) and the militant white supremacist group
National Action (1982). Since the 1980s, the term has mainly been used to describe those who express the wish to preserve what they perceive to be
Judeo-Christian,
Anglo-Australian culture and those who campaign against
Aboriginal land rights,
multiculturalism,
immigration and
asylum seekers. Since 2001, Australia has seen the development of modern neo-Nazi,
neo-fascist or
alt-right groups such as the
True Blue Crew, the
United Patriots Front,
Fraser Anning's Conservative National Party and the
Antipodean Resistance.
New Zealand A small number of far-right organizations have existed in New Zealand since World War II, including the Conservative Front, the
New Zealand National Front and the National Democrats Party. Far-right parties in New Zealand lack significant support, with their protests often dwarfed by counter protest. After the
Christchurch mosque shootings in 2019, the National Front "publicly shut up shop" and largely went underground like other far-right groups.
Fiji Nationalist Vanua Tako Lavo Party The Nationalist Vanua Tako Lavo Party was a far-right political party which advocated Fijian
ethnic nationalism. In 2009, party leader
Iliesa Duvuloco was arrested for breaching the military regime's emergency laws by distributing pamphlets calling for an uprising against the military regime. In January 2013, the military regime introduced regulations that essentially de-registered the party.
Pan-national European Union The development of a
Pan-European identity among far-right members of the European parliament has been claimed.
Islamic extremism Some
Islamic extremists view Islam superior to all other ideologies and
non-Muslims as inferior. Some Islamic extremism can be seen as far-right, == Online ==