Homegrown terrorists: A comparative state analysis of White supremacist hate groups in the United States, 2000--2007

According to the Southern Poverty Law Centers' Intelligence Report, hate groups advocating White supremacy in the United States have increased an estimated 59% over the past decade. The recent rise in White supremacist hate groups has been attributed to the economic recession, immigration issues, and the election of the nation's first African-American President. However, the importance of these groups lies not only in their proliferation, longevity, and ability to reach mainstream White America, but also in their sustainability in certain states despite their pitfalls in others.;Utilizing both cross-sectional and panel-series analysis techniques, the findings suggest that White supremacist hate groups manifest themselves in substantially different ways across the United States. For example, states with higher percentages of poverty, restrictive gun law scores, and located in the southern region of the country have more White supremacist hate groups; while states with higher percentages of foreign born population, liberal citizen ideology, and criminal hate laws have fewer White supremacist hate groups.;These variations across states, however only provide a tentative explanation of White supremacist hate group existence. To obtain a clearer explanation of White supremacist hate groups in the United States, they must be viewed as individual group types. Hate group data disaggregated by type reveal that group dynamics are in play as groups navigate state political and social factors to determine ideal areas to exist. This study therefore reveals the importance in examining White supremacist hate groups across time, states, hate group type, and particular political and social factors that motivate their existence.;This dissertation synthesizes resource mobilization and backlash theories to examine the relationship between political ideology, partisanship, public policy, social factors, and White supremacist hate group existence in the United States between 2000 and 2007. It seeks answers to the following research questions: Is there a relationship between a state's political ideology, partisanship, public policy, social factors, and hate group existence? Do the relationships between these hate groups and the state's political and social factors vary by hate group type? What effect does change in political and social factors have on predicting hate group existence?...