The Rage of Replacement: Far Right Politics and Demographic Fear

Tracing how the ＂Great Replacement＂ narrative has shaped far-right extremism and propelled its dangerous political projects and acts of violence

The ＂Great Replacement＂ narrative, which imagines that historic white majorities are being intentionally replaced through immigration policies crafted by global elites, has effectively mobilized racist, nationalist, and nativist movements in the United States and Europe. The Rage of Replacement tracks how this narrative has shaped the politics and worldview of the far right, binding its various camps into a community of rage obsessed with nostalgia for a white-supremacist past.

Showing how the replacement narrative has found significant purchase in recent mainstream discourse through the rise of Trumpism, right-wing media figures like Tucker Carlson, and events such as 2017’s ＂Unite the Right＂ rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Michael Feola diagnoses the dangers this racist theory poses as it shapes the far-right imagination, expands through civil society, and deforms political culture. In particular, he tracks how the replacement narrative has given rise to malignant political strategies designed to ＂take back＂ the nation from its perceived enemies--by force if deemed necessary.

Identifying the Great Replacement narrative as a central force behind the rise and expansion of far-right extremism, Feola shows how it has motivated a variety of dangerous political projects in pursuit of illiberal, antidemocratic futures. From calls for the creation of segregated white ethnostates to extremist violence such as the mass shootings in Christchurch, El Paso, and Buffalo, The Rage of Replacement makes clear that replacement theory poses a dire threat to democracy and safety.

Michael Feola is associate professor of government and law at Lafayette University and author of The Powers of Sensibility: Aesthetic Politics through Adorno, Foucault, and Rancière. He has written on politics for The Washington Post, Slate, and The Guardian.