Circulation of repertoires, outbidding, fused extremism and symbolic hybridizations in the global ecosystem of violent extremism
Abstract: The term “white jihad”, recently used in the literature to describe the appropriation of jihadist methods, aesthetics and narratives by white supremacist sectors, must be approached with caution, since it does not indicate doctrinal convergence, but rather a possible functional hybridization of political violence. Through the concepts of outbidding and fused extremism, this contribution interprets contemporary extremism as a competitive and digital ecosystem, in which narrative models, propagandistic forms and mobilization techniques can migrate between opposing ideological matrices. The recent 2026 investigative case conducted by the DIGOS units of Milan and Pavia, concerning a youth network of online neo-Nazi and antisemitic propaganda, confirms the centrality of digital environments in the construction of extremist identities and in socialization into violence.
Keywords: #jihadism #violent_extremism #radicalization #far_right #terrorism #outbidding #fused_extremism #DIGOS #Pavia #digital_propaganda #symbolic_hybridization #political_violence #ElhemBeddouda #ethicasocietas #ethicasocietasjournal #scientificjournal #humanities #socialsciences #ethicasocietasupli
Elhem Beddouda, is a professional educator with a degree in Education and Training Sciences from the University of Parma, where she completed a thesis entitled Islam and Educational Function: Perspectives on Religious Assistance in Prison. She is currently enrolled in the Global Studies for Sustainable Local and International Development and Cooperation program at the same university.
Introduction: from ideological separation to the circulation of repertoires
For a long time, the literature on terrorism and violent extremism interpreted jihadism and the far right as distinct, incompatible phenomena located within opposing ideological universes. This approach was based on a real fact: the religious, cultural, political and identity-based matrices of the two phenomena are profoundly different. Contemporary jihadism is organised around a radical, transnational and millenarian politico-religious vision; supremacist far-right extremism, by contrast, bases its grammar on race, ethnic identity, antisemitism, biological nationalism or anti-system accelerationism (Hoffman, 2017; Koehler, 2016; Schmid, 2011).
This distinction remains essential and must not be erased by suggestive but imprecise categories. However, the transformation of the global digital ecosystem has made the separation between forms of violence less rigid. Ideologies remain different, but the repertoires of radicalisation — images, narratives, propaganda techniques, models of martyrdom, theatricalisation of the attack, use of virality — can circulate from one extremist environment to another (Conway, 2020; Winter, 2018).
It is in this context that the term “white jihad” is situated: a controversial expression, not yet fully stabilised as a scientific category, but recently used in academic literature to describe the adoption, by segments of the supremacist far right, of methods, narratives, aesthetics and languages derived from the jihadist universe. The most recent literature itself warns against confusing this phenomenon with doctrinal fusion: the issue mainly concerns the migration of forms of violence, not the far right’s adherence to jihadist political theology (Koch et al., 2025).
The central analytical point, therefore, is not to argue that jihadism and the far right have fused, but to understand how, in the contemporary digital environment, ideologically hostile movements can observe, imitate and reuse similar communicative and operational repertoires.
Jihadism as a cultural infrastructure of global violence
Contemporary jihadism cannot be interpreted solely as a politico-religious movement. It has functioned, especially during the period of al-Qaeda first and then the Islamic State, as a true cultural infrastructure of global violence (Moghadam, 2008; Stern & Berger, 2015).
One of its distinctive traits is the construction of an aesthetic of violence in which the attack is not only a military or terrorist act, but also a narrative event. Violence is conceived, filmed, edited, disseminated and reproduced as symbolic content. What matters is not only the material damage, but the ability of the action to occupy communicative space, generate emulation, intimidate the enemy and strengthen the group’s identity (Winter, 2018).
This grammar has been based on several recurring elements: the spectacularisation of martyrdom, the construction of apocalyptic narratives, the identification of an absolute enemy, the transformation of the militant into a heroic figure, the strategic use of digital propaganda and the dissemination of materials capable of shaping both imagination and action (Bloom, 2005; Moghadam, 2008; Stern & Berger, 2015).
At the same time, a form of individual and networked radicalisation has emerged, in which the violent actor does not necessarily depend on complex hierarchical structures. Adherence can occur through online ecosystems, digital communities, propaganda archives, informal channels and processes of self-radicalisation. This model has had an impact far beyond the jihadist perimeter, because it has shown other extremist environments the possibility of turning violence into replicable content (Neumann, 2013; Conway, 2020).
Outbidding and fused extremism as categories to be used with caution
To understand the contemporary dynamics of violent extremism, it is useful to recall two concepts: outbidding and fused extremism.
The concept of outbidding describes competition between extremist groups to demonstrate greater radicalism, purity and capacity for action than their competitors. In the literature on terrorism, this dynamic has been used to explain how rival groups may intensify violence in order to gain attention, legitimacy and support among their reference audience. Recent studies have further clarified that the effect of outbidding is not always linear, but it remains central to understanding the relationship between competition, visibility and violence (Farrell, 2020).
Applied to the digital environment, the logic of outbidding assumes an even more evident dimension. Radicalism is measured not only by the action carried out, but by the ability to make it visible, shareable, imitable and recognisable within one’s community of reference. The extreme act also becomes a communicative performance (Conway, 2020; Winter, 2018).
The concept of fused extremism, by contrast, indicates contamination between elements originating from different extremist environments. It is not necessarily ideological fusion, but symbolic, narrative or functional hybridisation. Precisely for this reason, the concept must be used prudently: the presence of similar repertoires does not automatically prove the existence of a common ideology, but may indicate processes of appropriation, imitation or adaptation (Baele, 2025; Koch et al., 2025).
From this perspective, jihadism is not adopted by the far right in its doctrinal dimension, but can function as a repertoire that is observed, studied and reworked in an antagonistic key.
Symbolic hybridisation and appropriation within the far right
The first analytical direction concerns the selective appropriation of jihadist elements by supremacist, accelerationist or neo-Nazi environments. This phenomenon does not imply ideological convergence. On the contrary, it often arises precisely within a relationship of radical hostility: the jihadist remains the enemy, but some of his communicative or operational forms are perceived as effective.
This paradox is one of the most significant aspects of contemporary extremism. Movements that define themselves through opposition to Islam may nevertheless appropriate jihadist models of propaganda, the cult of martyrdom, the theatricalisation of the attack or the construction of the militant as a sacrificial figure (Koch et al., 2025).
The elements most exposed to this migration are the figure of the martyr, the spectacularisation of the attack, the narrative of existential war, apocalyptic language, the production of digital manifestos, the search for virality, the transformation of violent action into an aesthetic event and the construction of online communities based on the glorification of the extreme act (Moghadam, 2008; Winter, 2018; Conway, 2020).
The radical far right reworks these elements in an identitarian, racial and antisemitic key. The result is a form of competitive symbolic hybridisation, in which jihadism is at once an object of hatred and a partial model of communicative effectiveness (Koehler, 2016; Koch et al., 2025).
Jihadism as a global operational model
Jihadism has contributed to the construction of a global model of political violence based on three main elements.
The first is operational decentralisation. Violence does not always require a rigid chain of command. It can be encouraged, inspired or legitimised by a narrative ecosystem, even in the absence of an organic relationship between the perpetrator and the organisation (Hoffman, 2017; Stern & Berger, 2015).
The second is digital propaganda. Violence does not end with the action itself, but continues through its circulation. Videos, manifestos, images, statements, symbols and memes become an integral part of the terrorist or extremist event (Conway, 2020; Winter, 2018).
The third is the aestheticisation of violent action. The attack is constructed as a gesture intended to be seen, interpreted and replicated. In this sense, contemporary political violence assumes a performative dimension (Bloom, 2005; Moghadam, 2008).
These elements have contributed to the formation of a global ecosystem in which violence becomes increasingly replicable and translatable into different ideological contexts. The ideological matrix remains decisive, but it no longer exhausts the analysis: attention must also be paid to digital infrastructures, communicative formats, languages and processes of emulation (Neumann, 2013; Schmid, 2011).
The 2026 DIGOS Milan-Pavia case as an empirical indicator of digital radicalisation
The recent 2026 operations conducted by the DIGOS units of Milan and Pavia offer a useful empirical case, while requiring the caution appropriate to a still recent investigative matter.
According to the Italian State Police, the operation, coordinated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Milan, led to the house arrest of a nineteen-year-old Italian citizen residing in Pavia, deemed responsible for promoting and directing an association whose purposes included propaganda and incitement to commit crimes on grounds of racial and religious discrimination. The allegations also concerned content based on the minimisation of the Shoah and the glorification of the genocide of the Jewish people.[^1]
The Italian State Police also reported the execution of 14 search warrants against the same number of suspects, nine of whom were minors, residing in several Italian provinces.[^2] According to some journalistic reconstructions, the online group was allegedly called “Terza Posizione” and referred to the homonymous subversive formation of the 1970s; other sources also report that the chat was accessible to around one hundred users.[^3]
From an analytical point of view, the case highlights three central elements.
The first is the centrality of the digital environment as a primary space for propaganda, aggregation and radicalisation. This is not merely an instrumental use of the internet, but an environment in which identity, belonging and extremist language are progressively constructed (Conway, 2020; Neumann, 2013).
The second is the youthification of extremist radicalisation. The presence of numerous minors among the suspects confirms that digital extremism does not concern only structured militants, but may involve very young individuals exposed to violent content, identitarian languages and group dynamics.
The third is the symbolic construction of violence. Antisemitic propaganda, minimisation of the Shoah, glorification of genocide and religious discrimination are not merely extreme opinions: they are narrative devices through which an absolute enemy is constructed and violence is normalised as a political possibility (Koehler, 2016; Schmid, 2011).
The case does not demonstrate ideological convergence between the far right and jihadism. That would be a distortion. It does, however, show the convergence of certain forms: online radicalisation, digital communities, extreme languages, construction of the enemy, aestheticisation of militant identity and possible symbolic competition in radicalism (Farrell, 2020; Koch et al., 2025).
Towards a global ecosystem of violent extremism
The dynamics analysed suggest that contemporary violent extremism should be interpreted as an integrated ecosystem, characterised by the continuous circulation of narrative, symbolic and operational models.
In this ecosystem, jihadism occupies an ambivalent position. For the far right, it is an absolute enemy, but it can also become an indirect source of communicative repertoires. This does not mean ideological assimilation. It means that forms of violence can survive the ideological context that produced them and migrate into other environments (Koch et al., 2025; Baele, 2025).
Current digital radicalisation functions, in fact, as a symbolic market of violence. Content is observed, copied, adapted, remixed and relaunched. Competition takes place not only between organisations, but also between individuals, micro-communities, channels, chats and extremist subcultures (Conway, 2020; Winter, 2018).
Political violence thus loses part of its traditional structure and assumes a more fluid form: less dependent on vertical organisations, more exposed to emulation, contamination and spectacularisation (Hoffman, 2017; Neumann, 2013).
Conclusion
Jihadism can be interpreted as one of the principal transnational grammars of contemporary violence. Its influence does not consist only in its ability to mobilise militants within its own ideological universe, but also in having produced communicative, aesthetic and operational models observed by other extremisms (Moghadam, 2008; Stern & Berger, 2015; Winter, 2018).
The dynamics of outbidding and fused extremism make it possible to understand how contemporary political violence is no longer organised in completely separate ideological compartments, but in a fluid ecosystem of competition, imitation and functional appropriation (Farrell, 2020; Baele, 2025).
The 2026 DIGOS Milan-Pavia case confirms the centrality of digital networks in the production of youth radicalisation, extremist propaganda and the symbolic construction of the enemy. It does not prove a fusion between jihadism and the far right, but shows how ideologically distinct environments may share operational and communicative forms of violence (Polizia di Stato, 2026; Questura di Milano, 2026).
The category of “white jihad”, therefore, can be useful only if used critically. It must not become a slogan or an interpretative shortcut. The real phenomenon is not the transformation of supremacists into jihadists, but the global circulation of extremist repertoires in a digital environment that makes violence increasingly visible, imitable and performative (Koch et al., 2025).
The decisive point, for democratic institutions, is not only to repress the violent act, but to understand the ecosystem that makes it thinkable, desirable and communicable. It is in that space, even before the final action, that an essential part of the prevention of violent extremism is now at stake.
NOTES
[^1]: Italian State Police. (2026, April 22). Milan: neo-fascist and antisemitic propaganda, 19-year-old arrested; Milan Police Headquarters. (2026, April 22). Pavia, racial and religious discrimination aggravated by the glorification of the genocide of the Jewish people: 19-year-old arrested.
[^2]: Italian State Police. (2026, April 22). Milan: neo-fascist and antisemitic propaganda, 19-year-old arrested.
[^3]: Sky TG24. (2026, April 22). Pavia, 19-year-old arrested for online neo-Nazi and antisemitic network.
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