American Extremism: From the Inside Out — Jeff Schoep

This episode of The IR thinker examines radicalisation in the United States through the story of Jeff Schoep, a former leader of the country’s largest neo-Nazi organisation. The conversation explores the personal, social and political factors that sustained his twenty five years in the movement, the process that led him to disengage, and broader lessons for countering hate and violent extremism in contemporary America.Jeff SchoepJeff Schoep is the founder of Beyond Barriers, a non profit organisation that supports individuals leaving extremist groups and assists communities affected by extremism. Formerly the long standing leader of the National Socialist Movement in the United States, he left the organisation in 2019 and publicly renounced the ideology he had previously promoted. Drawing on first hand experience of far right extremism, he now works with the Simon Wiesenthal Center, educational institutions and community organisations in the United States and abroad, speaking on radicalisation, disengagement and prevention.Content00:00 - Introduction01:46 - Jeff Schoep’s Neo-Nazi Leadership04:45 - Becoming a Neo-Nazi Leader in the USA07:50 - Jeff Schoep’s 25-Year Neo-Nazi Journey12:13 - Neo-Nazi Group Membership15:18 - Crafting Speeches for Followers17:18 - Financing the Neo-Nazi Movement18:36 - US Restrictions on Neo-Nazi Symbols20:17 - Jeff’s Decision to Quit the Neo-Nazi Organization29:01 - Jeff Schoep and The Simon Wiesenthal Center34:15 - Online Landscape and Radicalisation35:42 - Economic Disparities and Radicalisation39:34 - US Military Interventions and Radicalisation41:20 - Prisons and Radicalisation43:40 - Spectrum of Radical Ideologies in the USA48:32 - Exporting Ideologies from the USA50:19 - US Strategies and Law Enforcement Against Radicalisation53:44 - Local Community Efforts Against Radicalisation55:47 - AI in Countering Radicalisation57:55 - Vulnerable Age Groups and Radicalisation01:01:36 - Republicans, Democrats, and Radicalisation01:04:57 - Tackling Radicalisation in the USA & Scholarly ContributionsFollow & Further ResourcesSubstack: https://theirthinker.substack.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ir-thinker/X: https://x.com/irthinker_Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theirthinker/Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theirthinker.bsky.socialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/irthinkerfb Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.