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.

Paul has also written a number of 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 Brill 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 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) The study of antifascism and its place in wider cultures of antiracism

Paul is co-lead of the recently formed 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 promote deeper understanding of 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, he is interested in developing links with community projects working with a wide range of partners on new projects.

Media engagement

Paul has engaged with a wide range of media outlets, including BBC radio and television, national and international newspapers and political magazines.

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

His Twitter handle is @pnjackson101.

Anna Castriota; History

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

Siobhan Hyland; History

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

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

Paul Stewart; History

Medmenham: Anglo-american photographic intelligence in the Second World War.

• 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