
Foreign Fighters and the Extreme Right
Tracking Far-Right Volunteers Beyond the Ukraine War
Routledge (Publisher)
1st Edition
Published on 29. October 2025
Book
Hardback
312 pages
978-1-032-01393-0 (ISBN)
Description
Foreign Fighters and the Extreme Right is the first comprehensive academic study taking an in-depth look at white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other right-wing extremists leaving their home countries to join armed groups fighting in civil wars and other armed conflicts.
The phenomenon known as 'Foreign Fighters' has so far mainly been looked at in the context of Jihadist groups like ISIS recruiting fighters from all over the world for the Syrian and Iraqi conflicts. Widely unnoticed, the war ongoing in Ukraine has also resulted in a stream of foreign recruits but with a totally different ideology. Right-wing extremists from many countries have travelled to Ukraine in order to take part in the armed conflict against Russia. Many have already returned to their countries of origin, mostly unnoticed and unhindered by law enforcement agencies. Looking more carefully, one also can see a much longer history of right-wing extremist foreign fighting in various conflicts, for example, the Yugoslavian war, the Algerian conflict and in South America in the aftermath of the Vietnam war. Bringing together world- leading experts on right- wing extremism and terrorism, this collection of extreme right-wing foreign fighting case studies since the end of the Second World War sheds light on a topic with significant importance, which has yet remained mostly in the dark.
This book will be of interest to all those with an interest in small wars, terrorism, peace and conflict studies and right-wing extremism.
The phenomenon known as 'Foreign Fighters' has so far mainly been looked at in the context of Jihadist groups like ISIS recruiting fighters from all over the world for the Syrian and Iraqi conflicts. Widely unnoticed, the war ongoing in Ukraine has also resulted in a stream of foreign recruits but with a totally different ideology. Right-wing extremists from many countries have travelled to Ukraine in order to take part in the armed conflict against Russia. Many have already returned to their countries of origin, mostly unnoticed and unhindered by law enforcement agencies. Looking more carefully, one also can see a much longer history of right-wing extremist foreign fighting in various conflicts, for example, the Yugoslavian war, the Algerian conflict and in South America in the aftermath of the Vietnam war. Bringing together world- leading experts on right- wing extremism and terrorism, this collection of extreme right-wing foreign fighting case studies since the end of the Second World War sheds light on a topic with significant importance, which has yet remained mostly in the dark.
This book will be of interest to all those with an interest in small wars, terrorism, peace and conflict studies and right-wing extremism.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
General, Postgraduate, and Undergraduate
Illustrations
1 s/w Tabelle
1 Tables, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
655 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-032-01393-0 (9781032013930)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Daniel Koehler | Miroslav Mares
Foreign Fighters and the Extreme Right
Tracking Far-Right Volunteers Beyond the Ukraine War
E-Book
10/2025
Routledge
€55.49
Available for download

Daniel Koehler | Miroslav Mares
Foreign Fighters and the Extreme Right
Tracking Far-Right Volunteers Beyond the Ukraine War
E-Book
10/2025
Routledge
€55.49
Available for download

Daniel Koehler | Miroslav Mares
Foreign Fighters and the Extreme Right
Tracking Far-Right Volunteers Beyond the Ukraine War
Book
10/2025
1st Edition
Routledge
€63.90
Shipment within 10-20 days
Persons
Daniel Koehler is Director of the German Institute on Radicalization and De-Radicalization Studies. He specializes in research on terrorism, radicalization and deradicalization. He is the Editor in Chief of the Journal for Deradicalization.
Miroslav Mares is Professor of Political Science at the Faculty of Social Studies of the Masaryk University in Brno. He specializes in research on violent extremism, hybrid threats and security policy, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe.
Miroslav Mares is Professor of Political Science at the Faculty of Social Studies of the Masaryk University in Brno. He specializes in research on violent extremism, hybrid threats and security policy, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe.
Content
1. Introduction: The Relevance of Studying Extreme Right-Wing Foreign Fighters 2. History of Extreme Right-Wing Foreign Fighters 3. Extreme Right-Wing Foreign Fighters: Challenges For Law Enforcement 4. Not an Al-Qaeda for the Far Right: the Azov Battalion/Regiment and Its Transnational Exploits 5. Multinational Separatist Units in the Ukraine Conflict 6. Between Assad and the Rebels: Far-Right Foreign Fighters in Syria 7. Case Study: Germany 8. "The Dog that Didn't Bark" - British extreme right foreign fighters 9. A Trajectory of Scandinavian Foreign Fighters - Cases and Patterns 10. Extreme Right-Wing Foreign Fighters and Volunteers from Italy 11. Case Study: The United States 12. Russian far-right foreign fighters in Donbas 13. Foreign Fighters and the Far-Right in South-Eastern Europe 14. Case Study: Eastern Europe and the Caucasus 15. Right-wing extremist foreign fighters in other European countries and areas 16. Conclusion: Extreme Right-Wing Foreign Fighters in the comparative perspective