Richmond Professor Co-Authors Landmark Report on Polish Far-Right Networks in Britain
Author: Richmond American University London
Professor Rafał Soborski, Professor of International Politics at Richmond, has co-authored a major new research report examining the involvement of Polish migrants in far-right movements in the United Kingdom.
The report is the culmination of a three-year study conducted at London Metropolitan University between 2023 and 2026. The project was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and carried out by Professor Soborski alongside Principal Investigator Professor Michał P. Garapich and Dr Anna Jochymek.
Drawing on 75 in-depth biographical interviews with activists in the UK and Poland, as well as extensive digital ethnography and participant observation, the report offers an unprecedented ‘from within’ account of how far-right ideologies take root and spread across national borders. It is the first study of its kind to examine how Polish migrants are drawn into, and contribute to, transnational far-right networks operating across Britain, Poland, and beyond.
Among the report’s key findings is that radicalization among Polish nationals in Britain is not an imported phenomenon, but one shaped by the experience of migration itself. The British political context plays a significant role in driving some individuals towards extremist ideologies, particularly growing polarization around immigration. The report also reveals that since 2019, eight individuals of Polish background have been convicted under the Terrorism Act 2000, making Polish-background individuals the largest minority group convicted for far-right-related offences in the UK.
The report sets out a series of policy recommendations calling on government and security services to recognize the transnational nature of contemporary far-right networks, broaden preventive frameworks to address radicalization within European diaspora communities, and improve cross-border coordination between UK and Polish authorities.
“Far-right radicalization in the UK is no longer an exclusively British phenomenon,” they say in their conclusion. “Our research shows that political action, vocabulary, ideology and practice rely strongly on transnational connections.”
Professor Soborski’s contribution to the report builds on his wider research into globalization, ideology, and social movements, and follows his previous monographs Ideology in a Global Age: Continuity and Change (Palgrave) and Ideology and the Future of Progressive Social Movements (Rowman & Littlefield). He also serves as Senior Research Fellow at London Metropolitan University’s Centre for Global Diversities and Inequalities.
The full report is available via London Metropolitan University.
As a results of the report, the team has produced publications featured in top journals, such as:
Soborski R, MP Garapich and A Jochymek. 2026. Dynamics of transnational tokenism: minority engagements with the far right in Britain and Poland. European Politics and Society.
Soborski R, MP Garapich and A Jochymek. 2025. Between civilisation, race, and nation: Transnational dimensions of far-right activism in post-Brexit Britain. Politics.
Soborski R, MP Garapich and A Jochymek. 2025. National populists of Christian Europe, unite! Exploring civilizationist alliances in the British far right. Ethnic and Racial Studies.
Soborski R, MP Garapich and A Jochymek. 2025. Solidarność from Gdańsk in 1980 to Calgary in 2022: political remitting and glocalization of symbols across time and space. Consumption Markets & Culture.
Soborski R, MP Garapich and A Jochymek. 2025. Home-Making Through Deathscapes or How to Circumvent the Contradictions of Nationalism: The Case of Polish Far-Right Activists in Britain. Nations and Nationalism.
Garapich MP, A Jochymek and R Soborski. 2024. Immigrants in the Transnational Far Right: Integration through Racisms and Negotiating White Supremacy in a Migratory Context International Migration Review 58(4): 2012-2039.
