Date of Graduation
5-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Sociology (MA)
Degree Level
Graduate
Department
Sociology and Criminology
Advisor/Mentor
Gruenewald, Jeff
Committee Member
Allison, Kayla
Second Committee Member
Windisch, Steven
Keywords
anti-immigrant violence; bias-motivated violence; cross-national comparison; Nordic nations; United States; violent extremism
Abstract
Using data from the U.S. Extremist Crime Database (ECDB), the Bias Homicide Database (BHDB), and the Right-Wing Terrorism and Violence (RTV) database, this study explores how attributes of anti-immigrant extremist violence compare across the United States and the Nordic countries. Compared to the long, complicated history of U.S. immigration and anti-immigrant violence, the homogeneity of the Nordic nations has only relatively recently been interrupted by mass immigration events like the mid-2010s’ “refugee crisis.” Rapid demographic change in these nations has inspired increased levels of extremism targeting immigrants and refugees. Quantitative analyses of cases ranging from 1990-2022 illuminate how broader social, political, and historical factors shape the situational nature of anti-immigrant violence, uncovering variations across the United States and the Nordic nations. Representative and atypical case descriptions are included to contextualize these differences. The United States averaged 1.41 incidents per year, while the Nordic nations averaged 4.75 incidents per year. Findings reveal that incidents in the United States almost strictly targeted actual and perceived immigrants and were more often fatal. Some incidents in the Nordic nations also targeted immigrant aid facilities and pro-immigration activists. Higher frequencies of incidents often followed major events like the “refugee crisis” in the Nordic nations and the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States. Findings from this study demonstrate the utility of cross-national comparisons for understanding how broader social, political, and cultural forces can shape the situated nature of anti-immigrant violence.
Citation
Mitchell, E. (2026). The Anti-‘Refugee Crisis’: A Comparative Analysis of Anti-Immigrant Extremist Violence in the United States and the Nordic Countries. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/6178
