Neo-reactionary Transnationalism: The case of Populist Radical Right Youth Organisations in the Eastern Baltic

As the far right has become increasingly mainstreamed in recent years and the literature begins to take new directions, several sub streams of the literature remain understudied. As Gattinara and Pirro (2019) correctly note, one direction is the connection of the far right with social movement studies. Although a few studies have appeared recently, work on the far right in the Baltic states still remains sparse. This is even more the case when it comes to analyzing the far right in the region from the social movement lens. This article seeks to analyze the transnational networks of the youth organizations (YOs) of the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE), as well as the National Alliance (NA). In addition, it seeks to build on the work of Wierenga (2017) who has analyzed the transnational alliances of Sinine Äratus (Blue Awakening), the youth organization of EKRE. Expanding the sample to also include the National Alliance Youth Organization (NAJO), this article will analyze meso level factors – in particular, social media networks as well as organizational activities, and foreign policy platforms, comprising a comparative analysis. The transnational alliances of Sinine Äratus are mostly aligned with Intermarium, a strategy which is primarily driven by the Azov Battalion, which seeks to unite European nationalists from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Wierenga (2017) notes the extensive transnational alliances of Sinine Äratus and the literature on the PRR in the Baltic states either presents EKRE and the NA as comparative case studies, or as single-N case studies. However, I expect that the two youth organizations will differ in metapolitical networks and activities. This study will draw on a qualitative content analysis of social media network analysis in the form of entity identification as well as interviews with members of each YO.