Understanding the effectiveness and desirability of de-radicalisation: How de-radicalisation is framed in The Daily Mail

Abstract

Research on de-radicalisation has been primarily concerned with the efficacy of de-radicalisation programmes and their negative consequences. However, there has been little research on how the public perceives de-radicalisation programmes and whether they are viewed as effective or desirable. It is important to understand public attitudes to de-radicalisation programmes because public opinion can affect the capacity to deliver the programmes. The following article takes a first step towards understanding these issues by examining how The Daily Mail has framed de-radicalisation in terms of whether or not the programmes are effective or desirable. We argue that an assumption of potential efficacy exists throughout the newspaper’s framing of de-radicalisation which presents the policy as desirable, despite also framing de-radicalisation as ineffective. While practitioners are reluctant to promote de-radicalisation programmes, The Daily Mail’s framing of de-radicalisation as natural, logical and desirable reflects the concept’s ideological flexibility as both a rehabilitative and normative endeavour.