Committee Chair

Dierenfeldt, Rick

Committee Member

McGuffee, Karen; Basham, Sherah

Department

Dept. of Criminal Justice and Legal Assistant Studies

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Several studies have examined the activity of right-wing extremists in relation to the actions of President Trump (Chyzh, Nieman, & Webb, 2019; Piazza, 2020). Comparatively, little research has examined the impact of the Obama presidency on right-wing extremism despite a peak in the number of right-wing extremist groups during his second term (SPLC, 2020). The purpose of this study is to examine the unique effects of the Obama and Trump candidacies and presidencies on the frequency of attacks committed by right-wing extremists in the U.S. The results indicate that President Obama’s second term was associated with a gradual, permanent increase in the frequency of attacks by right-wing extremists, while the presidency of Donald Trump was associated with an abrupt, permanent increase in the frequency of attacks. These findings suggest a number of policy implications related to political polarization and rhetoric in the U.S.

Degree

M. A.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts.

Date

5-2021

Subject

Domestic terrorism; Right-wing extremists; Terrorism--United States

Keyword

domestic terrorism; president; right-wing; terrorism; United States

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

iv, 56 leaves

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

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