Global Heating and the Australian Far Right

Global Heating and the Australian Far Right examines the environmental politics of far-right actors and movements in Australia, exploring their broader political context and responses to climate change.

The book traces the development of far-right pseudo-environmentalism and territorial politics, from colonial genocide and Australian nationalism to extreme-right political violence. Through a critical analysis of news and social media, it reveals how denialist and resignatory attitudes towards climate change operate alongside extreme right accelerationism, in a wider Australian political context characterised by reactionary fossil fuel politics and neoliberal New Right climate change agendas. The authors scrutinise the manipulation of environmental politics by contemporary Australian far- and extreme-right actors in cross-national online media. They also assess the political-ideological context of the contemporary far right, addressing intergovernmental approaches to security threats connected to the far right and climate change, and the emergence of radical environmentalist traditions in ‘New Catastrophism’ literature. The conclusion synthesises key insights, analysing the mainstreaming of ethnonationalist and authoritarian responses to global heating, and potential future trajectories of far-right movements exploiting the climate crisis. It also emphasises the necessity for radical political alternatives to counter the far right’s exploitation of climate change.

This book will be of interest to researchers of climate change, the far right, neoliberal capitalism, extremism and Australian politics.

Author Biography

Imogen Richards is a criminology lecturer at Deakin University, Australia, where she also researches comparative forms of political violence. Her first book explored the propaganda and financial practices of neo-jihadist organisations, and her second book (with Routledge) examined the public scholarly practices of criminologists.

Gearóid Brinn is a PhD candidate and teaches political theory at the University of Melbourne, Australia. His research focuses on political radicalism, especially anarchism, environmentalism, and realist political philosophy. His work has appeared in the European Journal of Political Theory and Environmental Politics.

Callum Jones is a researcher and PhD candidate at Monash University, Australia, whose research focuses on political extremism, particularly the networks and discursive strategies of radicalised groups and the violence they produce. His wider research focus extends to other ideological groups, including religious extremists and members of the Manosphere.