Faces of Sovereign Citizens in Post-Communist Europe: American Inspiration and Links with Extremist Groups

Movements of so-called sovereign citizens, originally emerging in the United States, have expanded across Europe in recent years. They represent heterogeneous groups that seek to dismantle existing political systems at the national level with the intention of replacing them. Their central argument lies in the reinterpretation of historical state arrangements and their selective application to contemporary conditions. The theoretical part examines the principles of legitimacy and political strategy of these movements. Conceptually, it differentiates between extremism and anti-system criticism, exploring the internal logic of alternative legitimacy rooted in national historical experiences and the motivations behind efforts to establish new forms of governance. Political strategy is conceptualized as a means of advancing political agendas, with particular attention to the role of political violence and “paper terrorism”. The study also investigates how European sovereign citizen movements tries to implement strategies originally developed in the United States, including the use of pseudo-legal rhetoric, the creation of parallel administrative structures, and discursive practices aimed at delegitimizing state authority. Empirically, the research focuses on Germany and the Czech Republic - two countries where historical experiences strongly shape public debate. Additionally, German “new federal states”, where the movement is especially active, is possible to see as other post-Communist area with specific dynamics of trust in state institutions. In both cases, non-violent online communities coexist with violent extremists operating under the same banners. Using a discursive framework analysis, the study draws on data from social media, other online platforms, and the self-presentation of key actors. It reconstructs interconnections between individual groups and other extremist movements and, potentially, extremist political parties, both online and offline. These findings are compared to the principles and networks made by the movement seen in the United States – this enables to measure the level of inspiration and originality and analyse specific European features. The research contributes to the still limited scholarly understanding of sovereign citizen movements in Europe, drawing inspirations from the United States, offers also new case studies, connects ideological profiles with strategic behavior, and clarifies the internal structure of this segment of European extremist and anti-system movements.