Beginning in the middle of the 1960s and continuing into the early 1980s, right-wing movements in numerous Western European states increasingly embraced terrorism as a means of advancing their causes. Although scholarly interest on terrorism during this period has long focused on the left, with high-profile attacks by such groups as the West German Red Army Faction or the Italian Red Brigades drawing attention, the far right and its embrace of terrorist tactics during these decades is a growing topic of study for historians. This panel aims to contextualize this right-wing turn towards terrorism by interrogating cultural and ideological shifts during the period.

The four papers in this panel approach the topic of ideology and terrorism on the far right in complementary manners. Matteo Albanese highlights the centrality of race in neofascist thought of the 1970s, with a view towards how racist views were a significant driver of a turn towards violence. Tobias Hof examines the intersection of culture and ideology on the far right, showing how the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien and Julius Evola influenced a younger generation of right-wing activists in Italy and shaped their views on their relationship with the broader political system. Annelotte Janse considers how one individual, the West German far-right activist Manfred Roeder, radicalized in part through connections with right-wing movements in the United States, with Roeder eventually committing a series of firebombings of refugee housing. Lastly, Brent McDonnell uses a case study, the 1967 ambush at Cima Vallona committed by South Tyrolean independence activists, to illustrate a moment of tension in cross-border far-right entanglements and the continued importance of the Nazi and Fascist pasts in West German and Italian right-wing circles. Considered together, these papers consider how racism, antagonistic attitudes towards liberal democratic societies, national identity, and transnational imaginations shaped how Western Europeans involved in far-right politics conceived of the world around them and how these ideological underpinnings became justifications for committing terrorist attacks.

While every paper in this panel is focused on Western Europe, the insights by these panelists have relevance for scholars of the far right across the globe, not least because of the extensive cross-border connections right-wing terrorists cultivated in the era. The participants draw from a variety of historical approaches, including intellectual history, cultural history, and political history; and they speak to such topics as race, generation, and nationalism. A resurgent far right across Europe in the past ten years has sparked a renewed interest in understanding the trajectories of right-wing politics in the years since the end of World War II. As such, this panel represents an opportunity to foster dialogue among scholars of the far right and introduce scholars in other historical fields to discussions in which historians of the right are currently engaged.