In the News: Trump’s Indictment Happened with Little Fanfare, But the Far-right Movement isn't Fading
Amy Cooter
Director of Research, Academic Development, and Innovation (RADI), Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism
- acooter@middlebury.edu
Dr. Amy Cooter is the Director of Research, Academic Development, and Innovation (RADI) at CTEC who focuses on antigovernment extremism. She has studied a range of groups who use a nostalgic understanding of the past to justify their actions. Her primary expertise is on U.S. domestic militias, and groups of armed individuals who see it as their civic duty to uphold the Constitution the way they believe it should be interpreted.
Amy has testified before U.S. Congress about her research, and regularly consults with academics, journalists, and law enforcement around the globe. You may find her quoted in such outlets as NPR, Rolling Stone, FiveThirtyEight, and The Washington Post.
Amy has a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Michigan and B.A. in sociology and psychology from Vanderbilt University.
Selected Works
Nostalgia, Nationalism, and the US Militia Movement. Forthcoming. Routledge.
“Cultural Change and Conspiracism: How Conspiracy Theory Trends Reflect Threat and Anxiety.” with Matt Taylor and Theodore J. Hansen. Forthcoming 2023 in Argentino, Marc-André and Amarasingam, Amarnath (eds) Far-Right Culture: The Art, Music, and Everyday Practices of Violent Extremists. Routledge: Series on “Fascism and the Far-Right” (all titles tentative)
“America’s Militant Nostalgia: The Role of Accelerationism in the Contemporary Militia-Patriot Movement.” with Matt Kriner. Forthcoming 2023 in Argentino, Marc-André and Amarasingam, Amarnath (eds) Far-Right Culture: The Art, Music, and Everyday Practices of Violent Extremists. Routledge: Series on “Fascism and the Far-Right” (all titles tentative)
“Inside America’s Militias.” Scientific American. January 2022 issue: pp. 34-41. (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/citizen-militias-in-the-u-s-are-moving-toward-more-violent-extremism/).
“U.S. Domestic Militias’ Intersections with Government and Authority: How a sociology of individualism informs their praxis.” in Neubert, Dieter, Lauth, Hans-Joachim, and Mohamad-Klotzbach, Christoph (eds) Local self-governance and varieties of statehood: Tensions and cooperation. 2022. Springer VS.
Testimony to House Committee on Veteran’s Affairs, Hearing on the Recruitment of Veterans by Domestic Violent Extremist Groups. (https://drive.google.com/file/d/158cQSoVuAS8ggYbwe5_FlrHBopCtTx4q/view)
News Feed
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How has domestic extremism changed two years after Jan. 6?
ABC News interviewed CTEC Research Fellow Amy Cooter on the second anniversary of the Capitol riots. Cooter embedded with a militia group during her graduate research work.
Oath Keepers convictions shed light on the limits of free speech—and the threat posed by militias
| by Stephen Diehl
Amy Cooter, senior research fellow at the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism, wrote an opinion piece for The Conversation, noting a possible change in public sentiment regarding limits of free speech.