Prevent Strategies: The Problems Associated in Defining Extremism: The Case of the United Kingdom

Abstract

As the UK has placed some of its Prevent strategy on a statutory footing and is proposing to introduce a Counter-Extremism Bill, this article argues that a legal definition of extremism must be carefully drafted to provide legal certainty. The main recommendation is that all forms of violent and non-violent extremism comes under the definition, ensuring it is differentiated from activism. Activism may hold radical views counter to the mainstream opinion, but it is required in liberal democracies as it encourages healthy debate and can prevent the policing of thought in any government strategy or legislation.

British terrorism preemption: Subjectivity and disjuncture in Channel “de‐radicalization” interventions

“…This piece builds on the many critiques of the hegemonic “radicalization” discourse, which highlight a lack of scientific rigor underpinning key concepts, and the discursive construction of pre‐crime risk (Ahmad & Monaghan, 2019; Baker‐Beall, Heath‐Kelly, & Jarvis, 2014; Githens‐Mazer & Lambert, 2010; Heath‐Kelly, 2013; Kundnani, 2009; Martin, 2014, 2018; Silva, 2018). While the definitional ambiguity surrounding terrorism preemption has been widely documented (Elshimi, 2017; Elshimi, 2017; Lowe, 2017; Richards, 2011; Sedgwick, 2010), little empirical work has been undertaken to explore how contested terms like “radicalization,” “extremism,” and “de‐radicalization” are navigated in practice through Prevent's operation. Some research on the practitioning of the Channel program does exist, including that of Elshimi (2017), Thornton and Bouhana (2017), Spalek and Davies (2012), and Weeks (2017, 2018).…”

The Global Nature of Policy Problems

“…By stating that the principal threat the United Kingdom faced emanates from a distorted and unrepresentative interpretation of Islam, Prevent focused solely on Islam and the United Kingdom's Muslim communities (Open Society 2016). As a result, many Muslims felt alienated, seeing the strategy as a way of demonizing their community and holding all Muslims responsible for terrorism (Lowe 2017).…”

Implementing ‘Prevent’ in countering violent extremism in the UK: A left-realist critique

“…Effective intervention needs to be sensitive to the background of every individual to understand where best to introduce it. It also means the depoliticisation of 'Prevent', especially when the approach conflates activism with extremism (Lowe, 2017).…”