This episode of The IR thinker examines radicalisation in the United States through the story of Jeff Schoep, a former leader of the country’s largest neo-Nazi organisation. The conversation explores the personal, social and political factors that sustained his twenty five years in the movement, the process that led him to disengage, and broader lessons for countering hate and violent extremism in contemporary America.
Jeff Schoep is the founder of Beyond Barriers, a non profit organisation that supports individuals leaving extremist groups and assists communities affected by extremism. Formerly the long standing leader of the National Socialist Movement in the United States, he left the organisation in 2019 and publicly renounced the ideology he had previously promoted. Drawing on first hand experience of far right extremism, he now works with the Simon Wiesenthal Center, educational institutions and community organisations in the United States and abroad, speaking on radicalisation, disengagement and prevention.
Content
00:00 - Introduction
01:46 - Jeff Schoep’s Neo-Nazi Leadership
04:45 - Becoming a Neo-Nazi Leader in the USA
07:50 - Jeff Schoep’s 25-Year Neo-Nazi Journey
12:13 - Neo-Nazi Group Membership
15:18 - Crafting Speeches for Followers
17:18 - Financing the Neo-Nazi Movement
18:36 - US Restrictions on Neo-Nazi Symbols
20:17 - Jeff’s Decision to Quit the Neo-Nazi Organization
29:01 - Jeff Schoep and The Simon Wiesenthal Center
34:15 - Online Landscape and Radicalisation
35:42 - Economic Disparities and Radicalisation
39:34 - US Military Interventions and Radicalisation
41:20 - Prisons and Radicalisation
43:40 - Spectrum of Radical Ideologies in the USA
48:32 - Exporting Ideologies from the USA
50:19 - US Strategies and Law Enforcement Against Radicalisation
53:44 - Local Community Efforts Against Radicalisation
55:47 - AI in Countering Radicalisation
57:55 - Vulnerable Age Groups and Radicalisation
01:01:36 - Republicans, Democrats, and Radicalisation
01:04:57 - Tackling Radicalisation in the USA & Scholarly Contributions
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