Assembling and deconstructing radicalisation in PREVENT: A case of policy-based evidence making?

Abstract

In the last 15 years the concept of radicalisation has come to prominence as a means of explaining the process by which individuals become attracted to extremist ideology and endorse the actions of terrorist groups. Post 9/11, radicalisation has gained traction in policy, political and media circles in Britain, being commonly connected to the threat of ‘home-grown’ terrorism. In this article, we critique the understanding of radicalisation outlined in the UK Government’s PREVENT strategy. We focus specifically on how particular understandings of radicalisation are constructed, evidenced and operationalised in PREVENT and the way in which these understandings align with party political worldviews. It is posited that an unremitting focus on the role of religious ideology in the process of radicalisation within PREVENT mutes recognition of otherwise important material grievances expressed by individuals involved in violent extremism. At a broader level, our analysis adds to growing concerns around the deleterious impacts of the securitisation of social policy.

Keywords

radicalisation preventing violent extremism security policy counter-terrorism PREVENT

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abbas

(2005) Muslim Britain: Communities Under Pressure. London: Zed Books.

Abbas

Siddique

(2012) ‘Perceptions of the processes of radicalisation and de-radicalisation among British South Asian Muslims in a post-industrial city’, Social Identities 18(1): 119–134.

Ahmed

(2015) ‘The emotionalization of the War on Terror: Counter-terrorism, fear, rsk, insecurity and helplessness’, Criminology and Criminal Justice 15(5): 545–560. DOI: 10.1177/1748895815572161.

Amrani

(2016) ‘I won’t change my name to be accepted’, The Guardian, 19 March.

Awan

(2013) ‘Let’s prevent extremism by engaging communities not by isolating them’, Public Spirit, January. Bristol: University of Bristol. Available at: http://www.publicspirit.org.uk/lets-prevent-extremism-by-engaging-communities-not-isolating-them/ (accessed 15 September 2016).

Baker-Beal

Heath-Kelly

Jarvis

(eds) (2015) Counter-Radicalisation: Critical Perspectives. New York: Routledge:

Bolton

(2015) ‘Three year old child from London placed in governments anti-extremism programme’, The Independent, 27 July.

Borum

(2003) ‘Understanding the terrorist mindset’, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin 72(7): 7.

Borum

(2011) ‘Radicalisation into violent extremism’, Journal of Strategic Security 4(4): 7–36.

10.

Bourne

(2012) ‘Editorial’, Race and Class 54(2): 1–2.

11.

Cameron

(2014) ‘ISIL poses a direct and deadly threat to Britain’, The Telegraph, 16 August.

12.

Cameron

(2015) PMs Speech at Ninestiles School, Birmingham. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/extremism-pm-speech (accessed 30 August 2015).

13.

Cheong

Edwards

Goulbourne

Solomos

(2007) ‘Immigration, social cohesion and social capital: A critical review’, Critical Social Policy 27(1): 24–49.

14.

Choudhury

Fenwick

(2011) The Impact of Counter-terrorism Measures on Muslim Communities. Manchester: Equality and Human Rights Commission.

15.

Craig

(2013) ‘Invisibilizing “race” in public policy’, Critical Social Policy 33(4): 712–720.

16.

Dalgaard-Nielsen

(2010) ‘Violent radicalisation in Europe: What we know and what we do not know’, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 33(9): 797–814.

17.

Department for Communities and Local Government (2007) Preventing Violent Extremism: Winning Hearts and Minds. London: HMSO.

18.

Department of Communities and Local Government (2010) The Citizenship Survey. London: Department of Communities and Local Government.

19.

Dodd

(2009) ‘Government anti-terrorism strategy “spies” on innocent’, The Guardian, 16 October.

20.

Francis

(2015) ‘If you really could brainwash Muslims, ISIS would have a lot more British recruits’, The Conversation. 7 July.

21.

Fraser

(2015) ‘It’s not the religion that creates terrorists, it’s the politics’, The Guardian, 27 June.

22.

Garner

Selod

(2014) ‘The racialization of Muslims: Empirical studies of Islamophobia’, Critical Sociology. DOI: 0896920514531606.

23.

Gunning

Jackson

(2011) ‘What’s so religious about religious terrorism?’ Critical Studies on Terrorism 4(3): 369–388.

24.

Halliday

(2016) ‘Almost 4,000 people referred to UK deradicalisation scheme last year’, The Guardian, 20 March.

25.

Heath-Kelly

(2013) ‘Counter-terrorism and the counterfactual: Producing the ‘radicalisation’ discourse and the UK PREVENT Strategy’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations 15(3): 394–415.

26.

HM Government (2006) Countering International Terrorism: The United Kingdom’s Strategy. London: TSO.

27.

HM Government (2011) PREVENT Strategy. London: TSO.

28.

HM Government (2015) PREVENT: Duty Guidance. London: TSO.

29.

House of Commons Home Affairs Committee Report (2016) Radicalisation the Counter Narrative: Identifying the Tipping Point. London: HMSO.

30.

Horgan

(2009) ‘Individual Disengagement: A Psychological Analysis’ in Bjorgo

Horgan

eds. Leaving Terrorism Behind: Individual and Collective Disengagement. Abingdon: Routledge.

31.

Institute for Race Relations (2016) Prevent and the Children’s Rights Convention. London: IRR.

32.

Khan

Mythen

(2015) ‘Double standards and speech deficits: What is sayable for British Muslims after Paris?’ Sociological Research Online 20(3). Available at: http://www.socresonline.org.uk/20/3/2.html (accessed 15 September 2016).

33.

Kundnani

(2009) Spooked! How not to Prevent Violent Extremism. London: Institute of Race Relations.

34.

Kundnani

(2015) A Decade Lost: Rethinking Radicalisation and Extremism. London: Claystone Publications.

35.

Lindekilde

(2012) ‘Neo-liberal governing of ‘radicals’: Danish radicalisation prevention policies and potential iatrogenic effects’, International Journal of Conflict and Violence 6(1): 109–125.

36.

Martin

(2014) ‘Governing an unknowable future: The politics of Britain’s Prevent policy’, Critical Studies on Terrorism 7(1): 62–78.

37.

McCauley

Moskalenko

(2012) ‘Recent US thinking about terrorism and Counterterrorism’, Terrorism and Political Violence 22(4): 224–245.

38.

McGarry

Mythen

(2015) ‘Beware the security creep into British universities’, The Conversation, 2 March. Available at: http://theconversation.com/beware-the-security-creep-into-british-universities-37867 (accessed 15 September 2016).

39.

McGhee

(2008) The End of Multiculturalism? Terrorism, Integration and Human Rights. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

40.

McGhee

(2011) ‘New Prevent: Different is not better’, Muslim Council of Britain. Available at: http://soundings.mcb.org.uk/?p=38 (accessed 1 October 2016).

41.

Meer

Modood

(2009) ‘The Multicultural state we are in: Muslims, “Multiculture” and the “civic re-balancing” of British multiculturalism’, Political Studies 57(3): 473–497.

42.

Mythen

(2012) ‘No-one speaks for us: Security policy, suspected communities and the problem of voice’, Critical Studies on Terrorism (special edition on Counter-radicalisation Policies in North-Western Europe) 5(3): 409–424.

43.

Mythen

Walklate

Khan

(2009) ‘“I’m a Muslim, but I’m not a terrorist”: Risk, victimization and the negotiation of risky identities’ British Journal of Criminology 49(6): 736–754.

44.

Mythen

Walklate

Khan

(2013) ‘Why should we have to prove we’re alright? Counter-terrorism, risk and partial securities’, Sociology 47(2): 382–397.

45.

Norris

(2016) ‘The Prevent strategy needs a rethink, not a rebrand: A bad policy by any other name is still a bad policy’, New Statesman, 26 August.

46.

O’Toole

(2015) ‘Prevent: from hearts and minds to muscular liberalism’, Public Spirit. Available at: http://www.publicspirit.org.uk/prevent-from-hearts-and-minds-to-muscular-liberalism/ (accessed 15 September 2016).

47.

Pantazis

Pemberton

(2009) ‘From the “old” to the “new” suspect community: Examining the impacts of recent UK counter-terrorist legislation’, British Journal of Criminology 49(5), 646–666.

48.

Petrie

(2015) ‘The Channel programme: helping vulnerable people or nudging them towards radicalisation?’ The Conversation, 17 March.

49.

Ratcliffe

(2012) ‘Community cohesion: Reflections on a flawed paradigm’, Critical Social Policy 32(2), 262–281.

50.

Rights Watch UK (2016) Preventing Education? Human Rights and UK Counter-terrorism Policy in Schools. London: Rights Watch UK.

51.

Schmid

(2013) Radicalisation, De-radicalisation, Counter-radicalisation: A Conceptual Discussion and Literature Review. The Hague: ICCT Research Paper.

52.

Sedgwick

. (2010) ‘The concept of radicalisation as a source of confusion’, Terrorism and Political Violence 22: 479–494.

53.

Silber

Bhatt

(2007) Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat. New York: NYPD Intelligence Division.

54.

Spalek

Lambert

(2008) ‘Muslim communities, counter-terrorism and counter-radicalisation: A critically reflective approach to engagement’, International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice 36(4): 257–270.

55.

The Citizenship Survey (2010) London: Department of Communities and Local Government.

56.

Thomas

(2010) ‘Failed and friendless: The UK’s Preventing Violent Extremism Programme’, The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 12(3): 442–58.

57.

Thomas

(2012) Responding to the Threat of Violent Extremism. London: Bloomsbury.

58.

Thomas

(2016) ‘Youth, terrorism and education: Britain’s Prevent programme’, International Journal of Lifelong Education. DOI: 10.q080/02601370.2016.1164469.

59.

Travis

(2011) ‘Schools counter terrorism project reviewed’, The Guardian, 11 February.

60.

Walklate

Mythen

(2015) Contradictions of Terrorism: Security, Risk and Resilience. London: Routledge.

61.

Whitehead

(2013) ‘Hundreds of children identified as extremism risk’, The Daily Telegraph, 22 July.

62.

Wiktorowicz

(2005) Radical Islam Rising: Muslim Extremism in the West. Lanham, MD: Lowman and Littlefield.