By Williams, Heather J.; Mcculloch, Caitlin

From the document: "This Perspective serves as a preliminary examination of the many roles and the complex intersection of Truth Decay and national security; in it, we examine how eroding confidence in facts and fact-finding institutions can affect U.S. national security. In addition to framing these intersections, we examine whether Truth Decay's role in national security has changed over time and the impact of the changing definition of 'national security.' [...] This work is intended to serve multiple purposes. The first is understanding: to better explain the broad impacts of Truth Decay on American national security. The second is to frame future research: both to highlight areas where gaps exist and future research could be most fruitful and to provide a framework for how that work would connect to the overarching strategic question. The third is response: to suggest what actors are best positioned to address Truth Decay in national security and potential mitigating initiatives. It is our hope that this work will demonstrate the importance of improving our understanding of Truth Decay in national security and combating the national security vulnerabilities it creates."

RAND Corporation. 2023. 43p.

By  Quentin Liger and  Mirja Gutheil

This study, commissioned by the Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the LIBE Committee, provides a discussion on the distinctive features of right-wing extremism as well as of violent actions perpetrated by right-wing extremists in the EU. It gives an overview and analysis of definitions, recent trends and responses to these actions and concludes with recommendations. In particular, the study highlights the need to develop a working definition of right wing-extremism in order to provide a better framework for understanding, studying and measuring the phenomenon.

Brussels: Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs Directorate-General for Internal Policies, 2022. 172p.

By Samantha Walther

The growing threat of far-right extremism in the United States has become more rampant and violent in recent years. The internet provides an easily accessible means to spread far-right ideologies, as well as inspire violence against minorities and those with opposing political views. This study used content analysis of 208 pieces of far-right content from 20 different social media platforms to discern which sites contained or hosted the most far- right content. The study also analyzed patterns in themes, linguistics, hashtags, and symbols. The study found that there is a current shift away from mainstream social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, to platforms that directly challenge mainstream social media platforms and cite free speech and privacy justifications for hosting far-right extremist content, such as 4chan, Bitchute, Gab, and Parler. Common linguistical patterns largely related to Americanism and American values, such as patriotism, war, and an “us” versus “them” mentality. The “us” versus “them” mentality elucidated that online conversations are highly polarized, with evidence of groupthink and group polarization taking place. The results of this study are intended to better inform Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) stakeholders tasked with creating effective counternarratives against the growing far-right movement in America.

Washington, DC; Marlborough, MA:  American Counterterrorism Targeting & Resilience Institute, 2020. 46p.

Edited by Thierry Balzacq and Elyamine Settoul

The most general aim of this book is to advance, if a little, our understanding of radicalization as it relates to jihadi terrorism. This calls for a word of caution, however. While our empirical cases focus on jihadi manifestations and consequences of radicalization, our conceptual chapters drive home a set of ideas, assumptions, and logics that are not unique to jihadi radicalization or violence. In other words, while the book emphasizes Islaminspired radicalization, it acknowledges that radicalization boasts different meanings and has an equally powerful bearing on other types of beliefs (e.g., political and economic). The book sits, therefore, between conceptual apparatuses with a broader scope and reach and case studies that vet their relevance in specific contexts. A caveat is not a substitute for stating a book’s backbone. This book can also, and most obviously, be read as an attempt to explicate the various ways in which radicalization sometimes leads to violence. Contributors want to account for conditions under which some individuals holding radical views resort to violence. Our cases confirm that many do not. The book is about the others that do, and it draws attention to the diversity of motives and circumstances that push or pull them toward violent action.

Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press,  2022. 297p.

By Anti-Defamation League, Center on Extremism

Extremists are using online crowdfunding platforms like GiveSendGo and GoFundMe to raise millions of dollars for their ideologically driven activities. Through crowdfunding, extremists have generated at least $6,246,072 from 324 campaigns between 2016 and mid-2022. 02 Extremist campaigns found on these platforms espouse hateful rhetoric including antisemitism, white supremacy, QAnon conspiracies and anti-LGBTQ+ extremism, as well as rhetoric from antisemitic sects of Black Hebrew Israelites. 03 Crowdfunding campaigns have been used by extremists to fund direct actions and attacks on their perceived enemies or marginalized communities; legal defenses for extremists who face consequences for these actions; propaganda efforts and other expenses.   

New York: Anti-Defamation League, 2023.  42p.

By Lea Gerster, Richard Kuchta, Dominik Hammer & Christian Schwieter

The ISD Germany study on the extreme right-wing use of Telegram serves as a complementary text to the “Escape routes” report. In it, the research team examined links to other platforms, which were shared on the controversial messenger service and were disseminated in the channels of right-wing extremists, right-wing radicals and conspiracy ideologues in the German-speaking world. The main scope of this research was on smaller platforms that do not fall under the deletion obligation of the NetzDG. Links to larger platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter were also analysed, given that the collected data set contained almost twice as many links to these platforms than to those not fully covered by the NetzDG.

For this report, the ISD research team collected 659,110 messages from 238 public channels from the extreme right, radical right, Reichsbürger:innen and conspiracy ideology spectrum between 1 January and 12 September 2021. From these messages, 371,988 links were extracted, leading to 8,252 domains. The ISD Germany researchers examined domains that were shared more than 15 times and identified social networks and platforms.

Berlin: Beirut: London: Paris: Washington DC; Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), 2022. 46p.

By Richard Kuchta, Dominik Hammer, Lea Gerster & Christian Schwieter

Since the beginning of 2021, ISD Germany has been researching right-wing extremist actors on alternative platforms on the internet. Three reports were published as part of the German Federal Ministry for Justice (BMJ)-funded project “Countering radicalisation in right-wing extremist online subcultures”. The last report in 2021, “Detours and Diversions – Online Strategies for the Dissemination of Right-Wing Extremist Content”, provides a summary of the projects central findings and presents them in a comparative manner.

This report thus combines the methodological and theoretical groundwork of the report “Wegweiser” with the results of the empirical research of the reports “Fluchtwege” and “Stützpfeiler Telegram”, and puts them into context. The report presents a comparison of data from established platforms and Telegram, and thus helps to gain a better understanding of the behaviour of far-right actors on the selected platforms. It also includes a comparative analysis of the strategies and linkages of far-right and radical right actors on established and alternative platforms.    This research is based on the empirical data collected by the platforms. Given, that data collection is different for each platform, and given that this project also explores alternative platforms, it also furthers the exploration of data collection options, which are described in more detail in this report.

Berlin: Beirut: London: Paris: Washington DC; Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), 2022. 24p.

By Dominik Hammer, Lea Gerster & Christian Schwieter

In response to the increased deletion of hate content and conspiracy theorist accounts on YouTube and other mainstream sites, right-wing extremist actors are increasingly migrating to decentralised video platforms such as Odysee and PeerTube. What does this mean for the fight against right-wing extremism on the internet?

This report presents the central findings of the project “Countering Radicalisation in Right-Wing Extremist Online Subcultures” from 2022. In particular, the different ideological and technological foundations of the video platforms Odysee and PeerTube are compared and contrasted. In addition, possible approaches to self-regulation and moderation of decentralised platforms are presented.

Berlin: Beirut: London: Paris: Washington DC; Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), 2023. 24p.

Signposts -- A Background Report on Right-Wing Extremist Online Subcultures by Dominik Hammer, Paula Matlach & Till Baaken

Right-wing extremist subcultures on the internet are subsequently thriving, and have gained additional The second part of the report is devoted to the momentum following protests against the German conceptual groundwork of the research project. [...] The goal was to identify research groups have differentiated themselves.8 The online gaps and position the project in the context of the spectrum includes websites of political parties and existing research. [...] capitalised on the evolution of the internet.2 Forums As the internet and its capabilities changed, so did the online strategies of the far-right. [...] In 2021, the Federal Office In turn, the use of irony has aided online recruitment for the Protection of the Constitution included this efforts by extremist movements by making it easier blog in its list of ‘observed objects’. The Bavarian State to participate in extreme ideologies, as the success Office for the Protection of the Constitution recognises of right-wing extremist community building. [...] A definition of right-wing extremism Basic Law is emphasised in the definition of right-wing must be broad enough to encompass new right-wing extremism by the Federal Office for the Protection extremist movements, and at the same time precise of the Constitution, which was also analysed for the enough to grasp the phenomenon and withstand working definition: scrutiny.

 London: Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), 2022. 23p.

By the Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism

Domestic extremists killed at least 25 people in 12 separate incidents in the United States in 2022, down from the 33 extremist-related murders documented in 2021. It continues the recent trend of fewer extremist-related killings after a five-year span of 47-78 extremist-related murders per year (2015-2019). 

• The majority of extremist-related deaths in 2022 occurred as part of high-casualty mass shooting events. Extremist-related mass killings have increased at an alarming rate.  More than half (57%) of the ideological mass killings in the United States since 1970 have occurred in the past 12 years.

• Almost all the killings in 2022 (93%) were committed with firearms.

• Of the 444 people killed at the hands of extremists over the past 10 years, 335 (or 75%) were killed by right-wing extremists.

• Of the 335 murders committed by right-wing extremists over the past 10 years, 73% were committed by white supremacists.

• In 2022, 18 of the 25 extremist-related murders appear to have been committed in whole or part for ideological motives, while the remaining seven murders either have no clear motive or were committed for a non-ideological motive.

“One of the most alarming trends in extremist violence in recent years has been the increase in mass killing attempts by extremists,” said Oren Segal, Vice President for the ADL Center on Extremism. “It is frankly too easy for an individual motivated by hate to purchase a weapon and enter a house of worship, an LBGTQ+ bar, a supermarket or any other public place and wreak havoc on so many lives. We cannot stand idly by and accept this as the new norm.”

New York: ADL, 2023. 36p.

Listen, Little Man! is a great physician's quiet talk to each one of us, the average human being, the Little Man. Written in 1946 in answer to the gossip and defamation that plagued his remarkable career, it tells how Reich watched, at first naively, then with amazement, and finally with horror, at what the Little Man does to himself; how he suffers and rebels; how he esteems his enemies and murders his friends; how, wherever he gains power as a "representative of the people," he misuses this power and makes it crueler than the power it has supplanted.

Reich has us to look honestly at ourselves and to assume responsibility for our lives and for the great untapped potential that lies in the depth of human nature.By Wilhelm Reich

NY. Noonday Press. 1974. 138p.

“What emerges with great clarity from the book is that Jung has done immense service both to psychology as a science and to our general understanding of man in society.”—The Guardian
  
“Our psyche is part of nature, and its enigma is limitless.”
 
Since our inception, humanity has looked to dreams for guidance. But what are they? How can we understand them? And how can we use them to shape our lives? There is perhaps no one more equipped to answer these questions than the legendary psychologist Carl G. Jung. It is in his life’s work that the unconscious mind comes to be understood as an expansive, rich world just as vital and true a part of the mind as the conscious, and it is in our dreams—those personal, integral expressions of our deepest selves—that it communicates itself to us. A seminal text written explicitly for the general reader, Man and His Symbolsis a guide to understanding the symbols in our dreams and using that knowledge to build fuller, more receptive lives. 

Full of fascinating case studies and examples pulled from philosophy, history, myth, fairy tales, and more, this groundbreaking work—profusely illustrated with hundreds of visual examples—offers invaluable insight into the symbols we dream that demand understanding, why we seek meaning at all, and how these very symbols affect our lives. By illuminating the means to examine our prejudices, interpret psychological meanings, break free of our influences, and recenter our individuality, Man and His Symbols proves to be—decades after its conception—a revelatory, absorbing, and relevant experience.By Carl G. Jung and M. L. . von Fra nz , Joseph . L. Henderson , Jolande Jacobi, Aniela Jafé

NY. Dell Publishing. 1964. 416p.

In this classic study, Reich provides insight into the phenomenon of fascism, which continues to ravage the international community in ways great and small.

Drawing on his medical expereinces with men and women of various classes, races, nations, and religious beliefs, Reich refutes the still generally held notion that fascism is a specific characteristic of certain nationalities or a political party ideology that is imposed on innocent people by means of force or political manneuvers. "Fascism on only the organized political expression of the structure of the average man's character. It is the basic emotional civilization and its mechanistic-mystical conception of life."―Wilhelm Reich

Responsibility for the elimination of fascism thus results with the masses of average people who might otherwise support and champion it.By Wilhelm Reich. Translated by Vincent R. Carfagno

NY. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 1970. 420p.

By George Gaylord Simpson

A world-famous scientist answers the fundamental questions concerning the changes in the course of the history of life and considers human aims, values, and duties in the light of the nature of man and his place in the history of life.
"The clearest and soundest exposition of the meaning of evolution that has yet been written."―Ashley Montagu, Isis

New Haven And London. Yale University Press, 1949. 373p.

Are men literally born to cheat? Does monogamy actually serve women's interests? These are among the questions that have made The Moral Animal one of the most provocative science books in recent years. Wright unveils the genetic strategies behind everything from our sexual preferences to our office politics--as well as their implications for our moral codes and public policies. Illustrations.By Robert Wright.

NY. Vintage. 1994. 398p.

By Robert Nisbet

When first published, The Sociological Tradition had a profound and positive impact on sociology, providing a rich sense of intellectual background to a relatively new discipline in America. Robert Nisbet describes what he considers the golden age of sociology, 1830-1900, outlining five major themes of nineteenth-century sociologists: community, authority, status, the sacred, and alienation. Nisbet focuses on sociology's European heritage, delineating the arguments of Tocqueville, Marx, Durkheim, and Weber in new and revealing ways.

When the book initially appeared, the Times Literary Supplement noted that "this thoughtful and lucid guide shows more clearly than any previous book on social thought the common threads in the sociological tradition and the reasons why so many of its central concepts have stood the test of time." And Lewis Coser, writing in the New York Times Book Review, claimed that "this lucidly written and elegantly argued volume should go a long way toward laying to rest the still prevalent idea that sociology is an upstart discipline, unconcerned with, and alien to, the major intellectual currents of the modern world."

Its clear and comprehensive analysis of the origins of this discipline ensures The Sociological Tradition a permanent place in the literature on sociology and its origins. It will be of interest to those interested in sociological theory, the history of social thought, and the history of ideas. Indeed, as Alasdair Maclntyre observed: "We are unlikely to be given a better book to explain to us the inheritance of sociology from the conservative tradition."

NY. Basic Books. 350p. CONTAINS MARK-UP

By Stephen Jay Gould

“Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny” was Haeckel’s answer―the wrong one―to the most vexing question of nineteenth-century biology: what is the relationship between individual development (ontogeny) and the evolution of species and lineages (phylogeny)? In this, the first major book on the subject in fifty years, Stephen Jay Gould documents the history of the idea of recapitulation from its first appearance among the pre-Socratics to its fall in the early twentieth century.

Mr. Gould explores recapitulation as an idea that intrigued politicians and theologians as well as scientists. He shows that Haeckel’s hypothesis―that human fetuses with gill slits are, literally, tiny fish, exact replicas of their water-breathing ancestors―had an influence that extended beyond biology into education, criminology, psychoanalysis (Freud and Jung were devout recapitulationists), and racism. The theory of recapitulation, Gould argues, finally collapsed not from the weight of contrary data, but because the rise of Mendelian genetics rendered it untenable.

Turning to modern concepts, Gould demonstrates that, even though the whole subject of parallels between ontogeny and phylogeny fell into disrepute, it is still one of the great themes of evolutionary biology. Heterochrony―changes in developmental timing, producing parallels between ontogeny and phylogeny―is shown to be crucial to an understanding of gene regulation, the key to any rapprochement between molecular and evolutionary biology. Gould argues that the primary evolutionary value of heterochrony may lie in immediate ecological advantages for slow or rapid maturation, rather than in long-term changes of form, as all previous theories proclaimed.

Neoteny―the opposite of recapitulation―is shown to be the most important determinant of human evolution. We have evolved by retaining the juvenile characters of our ancestors and have achieved both behavioral flexibility and our characteristic morphology thereby (large brains by prolonged retention of rapid fetal growth rates, for example).

Gould concludes that “there may be nothing new under the sun, but permutation of the old within complex systems can do wonders. As biologists, we deal directly with the kind of material complexity that confers an unbounded potential upon simple, continuous changes in underlying processes. This is the chief joy of our science.”

Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1977. 528p.

By William H. Whyte

Regarded as one of the most important sociological and business commentaries of modern times, The Organization Man developed the first thorough description of the impact of mass organization on American society. During the height of the Eisenhower administration, corporations appeared to provide a blissful answer to postwar life with the marketing of new technologies—television, affordable cars, space travel, fast food—and lifestyles, such as carefully planned suburban communities centered around the nuclear family. William H. Whyte found this phenomenon alarming.

As an editor for Fortune magazine, Whyte was well placed to observe corporate America; it became clear to him that the American belief in the perfectibility of society was shifting from one of individual initiative to one that could be achieved at the expense of the individual. With its clear analysis of contemporary working and living arrangements, The Organization Man rapidly achieved bestseller status.

Since the time of the book's original publication, the American workplace has undergone massive changes. In the 1990s, the rule of large corporations seemed less relevant as small entrepreneurs made fortunes from new technologies, in the process bucking old corporate trends. In fact this "new economy" appeared to have doomed Whyte's original analysis as an artifact from a bygone day. But the recent collapse of so many startup businesses, gigantic mergers of international conglomerates, and the reality of economic globalization make The Organization Man all the more essential as background for understanding today's global market. This edition contains a new foreword by noted journalist and author Joseph Nocera. In an afterword Jenny Bell Whyte describes how The Organization Man was written.

NY. Penguin. 1956. 387p.

In 1665 the plague swept through London, claiming over 97,000 lives. Daniel Defoe was just five at the time of the plague, but he later called on his own memories, as well as his writing experience, to create this vivid chronicle of the epidemic and its victims. A Journal (1722) follows Defoe's fictional narrator as he traces the devastating progress of the plague through the streets of London. Here we see a city transformed: some of its streets suspiciously empty, some—with crosses on their doors—overwhelmingly full of the sounds and smells of human suffering. And every living citizen he meets has a horrifying story that demands to be heard.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.By Daniel Defoe. Introduction by Anthony Burgess.

NY. London. Penguin. 1722.

A monumental biography of the Indian subcontinent from the award-winning author of The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul.
 
Second only to China in the magnitude of its economic miracle and second to none in its potential to shape the new century, India is fast undergoing one of the most momentous transformations the world has ever seen. In this dazzlingly panoramic book, Patrick French chronicles that epic change, telling human stories to explain a larger national narrative. With a familiarity and insight few Westerners could approach, he provides a vital corrective to the many outdated notions about a uniquely dynamic and consequential nation.By Ted Mheta

NY. Penguin. 1957. 590p.