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What White Supremacism and Jihadism Have in Common

Mar 26, 2019 | 05:30 GMT

A Ku Klux Klan march Aug. 19, 1925, on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington.

A Ku Klux Klan march on Aug. 19, 1925, on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. The respective ideologies driving white supremacist and jihadist terrorism share a number of similarities despite their different tenets and opponents.

(Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • The respective ideologies driving white supremacist and jihadist terrorism share a number of similarities despite their different tenets and opponents.
  • Law enforcement in the West has more history investigating white supremacist terrorism than jihadism.
  • While the 9/11 attacks led to a major focus on the jihadist threat, pressure on white supremacists has not relented — but neither have the white supremacists.

In last week's On Security about the Christchurch attack, I noted that white supremacists adopted the leaderless resistance model of terrorism before jihadists did. A knowledgeable reader subsequently asked about the similarities between white supremacist and jihadist terrorism. Like jihadism, the various ideologies driving white supremacism are not going away any time soon, and comparing the two can provide valuable lessons for understanding the ongoing threat....

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