News

  • A Darker Strain of Environmentalism

    | by Olivia Kilborn

    As Executive Director of CTEC, I am proud to share this Michael Donnelly Research Fellowship report—part of a tradition of rigorous, student-led analysis that reflects the very best of our Institute. Like the Donnelly Fellow reports that came before it, this paper is published in honor of Michael Donnelly, a late friend and colleague whose legacy lives on through this fellowship supporting underrepresented MIIS students.

    This report was written by Olivia Kilborn, a CTEC Michael Donnelly Research Fellow and an M.A. candidate in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies at MIIS. In A Darker Strain of Environmentalism, Kilborn examines the resurgence of ecofascist rhetoric in the context of the climate crisis and asks a timely question: how do online eco-fascist subcultures and far-right European political parties draw on ecofascist ideology—where do their rhetorical strategies converge, and where do they diverge? By comparing narratives across mainstream political arenas and extremist digital spaces, the report helps clarify how climate anxiety, migration politics, and identity-based grievance can be braided into exclusionary—and potentially violent—worldviews.

    — Jason M. Blazakis, CTEC Executive Director 

  • Seeds of Extremism: Ecofascism and Militant Accelerationism in a Warming World

    | by Isabela Bernardo

    As Executive Director of Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism (CTEC), I’m pleased to share Seeds of Extremism: Ecofascism and Militant Accelerationism in a Warming World—a timely, rigorously researched analysis of how climate stress can be exploited by violent extremist movements, and how ecofascist narratives increasingly fuse with accelerationist tactics to produce a more dangerous hybrid threat. Grounded in a clear framework and strengthened by detailed case studies (including the 2019 El Paso shooting and an examination of the “Pine Tree Party” network), the report equips policymakers, practitioners, and researchers with the conceptual tools to recognize early warning signals, understand online radicalization 

    This research paper—written by CTEC Senior Research Analyst Isabela Bernardo—is a must-read for anyone concerned about the rise of ecofascism and its intersection with violent extremist ideologies. I also want to express my sincere gratitude to the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation for its generous support; without it, this paper and CTEC’s work examining the dangerous edges of accelerationist culture would not be possible.

    — Jason M. Blazakis, CTEC Executive Director 

  • Shaikh, Michael

    In the News

    Oct. 24: Alum to Discuss his New Book on Cuisine and Conflict

    | by Caitlin Fillmore

    A free community event will highlight alum Michael Shaikh MAIPS ’03, who recently published The Last Sweet Bite, highlighting the food customs of cultures torn apart by conflict. Shaikh spent nearly 20 years working in areas marred by political crisis and armed conflict, mostly in Asia and the Middle East, including leading the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights investigations into the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar.