Description
This paper explores the rise of nihilism within contemporary violent extremism, examining how a loss of hope for the future shapes the motivations and behaviours of groups and individuals engaged in political violence. Historically, extremist ideologies often promised radical change, envisioning an idealised – or, at a minimum, a rosier – future. Despite their violence, extremists often sought to leave the world a better place than they found it, at least according to their worldview. However, recent cases of violent extremism reveal an increasingly nihilistic outlook among certain individuals and groups, who reject not only the present order and status quo but also the possibility of any constructive alternative. Here, violence ceases to be a means to an end and becomes an end itself. This trend is especially pronounced within ideologies responding to the Anthropocene, where the reality of environmental collapse intensifies a sense of futility and despair. Drawing from political theory, this paper engages in an interdisciplinary analysis to understand the emergence of nihilism across various ideological milieus, such as incel subcultures, insurrectionary anarchism, and eco-extremism, investigating the convergences and divergences characterising this shift towards nihilism. While some recent analyses have suggested that the emergence of nihilism marks the end of ideology in violent extremism, the paper argues that, instead, nihilism becomes an integral part of it. Rather than signalling the loss of ideology, the rise of nihilism points to the disappearance of the future from it, particularly within the context of the Anthropocene.
