Extremism as a Transnational Threat: Comparative Study of White Supremacy and Hindutva

Abstract

Extremism is the underlying cause of domestic and international terrorism. The ever-increasing threat of extremism has shaped a geo political discourse which has given rise to politics of hatred and exclusion. The latter manifests itself as hyper nationalism. The objective of the study is to compare the common denominators between the extremist ideologies of ‘White Supremacism’ (engulfing the West) and ‘Hindutva’ (infecting the South Asian region). The paper yields a comparative analysis of ideological operationalization of white racism and Hindutva fascism in the West and India respectively. The paper highlights the characteristics of white supremacism and Hindutva and discovers the common denominators between these two ideologies such as fundamentalist extremism, exclusionary politics, Islamophobia and perverted nationalism.