The Politics of Hate

Abstract

This is a special issue dedicated to the topic of hate and political discourse. Collectively, the peer-reviewed articles in this volume are concerned with the political aspects of hatred, i.e., psychology, motivations, organization, tactics, and ends. The articles approach the problem from a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, history, law, literature, philosophy, political science, psychology, and sociology. Among the subjects analyzed: group hatred as a heritable trait; hate as an irrational system of thought; Italian fascism's construction of the Communist other; the rise of the English Defence League and its anti-Islam activities; the persistent myth of blood libel; judicial handling of lynching in the U.S.; the challenges of drafting hate crimes legislation; and combating anti-democratic values such as Aryanism through youth literature.

Keywords: hate, hate crime, evolutionary psychology, blood libel, lynching, jurisprudence, rationalism, islam, english defence league, fascism, communism