Securitizing the Alt-Right

Abstract: Within the last decade, the alt-right movement has migrated from secluded corners of the internet into mainstream media. This migration, and subsequently gained following, challenges traditional views on security by bringing forth social actors that securitize, despite a lack of authority. This takes place on online platforms, such as YouTube, where the political and non-political coexist. This thesis aims to explore the securitization speech acts located within alt-right online discourse and their reinforcement of online alt-right activism. Combining securitization theory and Stritzel’s conceptualized speech acts, a large number of YouTube videos from the three most popular alt-right content creators are analyzed with a discourse historical approach to discourse analysis, in search of exclusionary narratives and tools that support securitizing moves. The analysis shows that alt-right securitization speech acts form a security discourse targeting liberalism, globalization, and feminism. Furthermore, irony, othering, and performativity are identified as the main tools for enhancing the effectiveness of the securitization acts by establishing a connection between audience and content creator. This allows securitization to occur despite the lack of formal authority.