Prof Paul Jackson

Paul's research addresses three main areas

1) The history and current dynamics of the British extreme right

Paul’s work has explored a wide range of historical and contemporary areas of extreme right activism. His most recent book, Pride in Prejudice: Understanding Britain’s Extreme Right synthesises a wide range of his own scholarship and the wider field to offer a panoramic survey of all aspects of the British extreme right space, past and present. He is also particularly interested in how history of emotions methods can be used to rethink the study of the extreme right.

Paul has written peer revered articles, book chapters, contributed to reports, and offered a range of consultancy work on issues related to the extreme right in Britain including issues such as lone actor terrorism and contemporary neo-Nazism.

His other books include Colin Jordan and Britain’s neo-Nazi movement: Hitler’s Echo which mapped a wide range of extreme right cultures in Britain connected to a life-long organiser and campaigner.

Finally, Paul founded and co-edits the Bloomsbury book series A Modern History of Politics and Violence, and is part of the editorial team of the peer-reviewed journal Fascism: Journal of Comparative Fascist Studies.

2) The development of archival resources for studying fascism and antifascism

Paul has helped bring a major archival collection to the University of Northampton, created by Searchlight magazine, documenting Britain’s extreme right and antifascist cultures since the 1960s.

This collection has been used as part of Gale Cengage’s award-winning Political Extremism and Radicalism collection.

It is also a growing archive, and actively seeks new donations of material related to the wider history of fascism as well as antifascism and antiracism.

3) How the study of fascism and antifascism can contribute to wider cultures of antiracism

Paul co-founded and leads the Centre for Historical Studies, a diverse research centre based at the University of Northampton that brings together academics, research students, and the wider community. With colleagues, he runs the Extreme Right Research Network that is based within this centre, which develops a range of research and engagement activities around the history and current contexts of extreme right politics. 

Paul also co-founded and is a member of the Centre for the Advancement of Racial Equality at the University of Northampton. This research centre draws together a wide range of activities at the university to promote research, learning and teaching, and knowledge exchange on issues of race, ethnicity, racial inequality, and positive change.  

Finally, throughout Paul’s work is an effort to understand how issues of racism and political extremism can be tackled through the promotion of liberal democratic multicultural values.

Alongside research publications and academic conference papers, Paul is interested in developing links with community projects and working with a wide range of partners on new projects.

Media engagement

Paul has contributed to many media outlets, including BBC radio and television, national and international news channels and newspapers as well as political magazines.

Paul is available to comment on a wide range of issues related to contemporary far-right contexts, as well as the history of the far-right.  

His Bluesky handle is: @pnjackson.bsky.social.

Paul has been the lead supervisor on a wide range of PhD projects including:

Anna Castriota; History (completed)

The Disintegration of the System: Far-Right Terrorism, Fascist Mysticism and Metapolitics.

Siobhan Hyland; History (completed)

Searchlight magazine's Anti-fascist campaign to uncover Second World War era war criminals living in Britain during the 1980s and 1990s.

Daniel Jones; History (completed)

British far-right and anti-fascist media's construction of identity: Searchlight and Spearhead, 1964 - 1982.

Bethany Smith; Literature (ongoing)

The retrieval of 'impossible narratives': discussing the development of Holocaust literature

Paul Sillett; History (ongoing)

Fascist and far right street formations in Britain - 1980-2020 and anti fascist resistance

William Mann; History (ongoing)

United by a common delusion: similarities and differences between British and American neo-fascism

William Hatfield; History (ongoing)

Teaching Hate: An Analysis Of British Far Right Youth And Student Groups And Movements In The Post-War Period

Amir Darwish; History (ongoing)

Islamism from a fascism studies perspective: a comparison of Muslim brotherhood intellectuals

• The history and current dynamics of the British extreme right
• The development of archival resources for studying fascism and antifascism
• The study of antifascism and its place in wider cultures of antiracism