Racialised Geographies of The Far-Right

Over the past decade, the parliamentary far right has become one of the most significant political actors. This dissertation contributes to research on the political ecology and geography of the far right by examining the racial dimensions of far-right climate politics. It focuses on two far-right groups: the Finnish parliamentary party Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party) and the Russian extra-parliamentary far-right group, the Izborsk Club. The empirical material is based on interviews with Finns Party members of parliament, local politicians, and grassroots activists, as well as an analysis of the Izborsk Club’s political publications.

Comprising three independent research articles and a summary, the dissertation demonstrates various strategies by which these groups engage in climate obstructionism—that is, the delaying, slowing down, and denial of climate policy. The dissertation argues that the far right’s climate obstructionism is intertwined with both sensationalist and subtle forms of ecological racism, in which, through environmental determinism and populationist framings, the political and moral responsibility of the climate crisis is shifted to racialised peoples and places. Far-right climate obstructionism reproduces racist structures by redefining the meaning of “race” and undermining the realisation of climate justice.