From Superiority to Supremacy: Exploring the Vulnerability of Military and Police Special Forces to Extreme Right Radicalization

Daniel Koehler

Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 2025, vol. 48, issue 2, 115-138

Abstract: This article explores potential vulnerability factors for extreme right radicalization of Special Operation Forces (SOF) and Special Weapons and Tactics (S.W.A.T.) personnel in Western countries. Drawing on inquiry commissions reports regarding extreme right behavior or ethical misconduct by six elite units from four countries (Germany, Canada, Australia, the U.S.), this article argues that a lack of diversity in gender and ethnicity, elite warrior subcultures, echo chamber effects and cognitive rigidity can become vulnerability factors for extreme right radicalization. Further, the need for targeted resilience among SOF and S.W.A.T. units designed to counter such processes is highlighted.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/1057610X.2022.2090047

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