Countering violent extremism via de-securitisation on Twitter

Authors

  • Anna Warrington Master Student, University of Copenhagen

Keywords:

Terrorism, security studies, radicalisation, Islamic terrorism, securitisation, de-securitisation, counter narratives, CVE, PVE

Abstract

The case of a civil society actor on Twitter entering a securitized discourse on terrorism illustrates the transformative theoretical potential that emerges from new forms of communication online. Through a qualitative analysis of tweets from the Average Mohamed profile, the potential to change a negative narrative of violent extremism operating within a securitised discourse of Islamic terrorism, is discussed in an online context. The arguments forming from this analysis offers a new approach to studying online counter narratives by linking a theoretical framework of securitisation and de-securitisation to recent political efforts Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) and Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE). Through the inclusion of a civil society Twitter account as an illustrative case, this paper explores how social media can challenge existing assumptions of who can be a de-securitising actor within security theory by blurring the lines between political and societal sectors in a securitised threat from Islamic terrorism. If and how a civil society actor can loosen the dichotomous discursive relationship between Self/Other relations within a contemporary discourse on terrorism becomes relevant for a theoretical discussion by presenting an argument suggesting that online CVE polices are more effective within the sphere of ‘normal’ politics rather than within the realm of securitization. This theoretical perspective offers an analytical framework including a wide range of actors involved in counter narratives policies which is useful for further CVE research.

 

References

Aradau, C. (2004) Security and the democratic scene: desecuritization and emancipation. Department of Government and Politics, Faculty of Social Sciences. Walton: The Open University, 388-413

Ashour, O. (2011). Online De-Radicalization? Countering Violent Extremist Narratives: Message, Messenger and Media Strategy. Perspectives on Terrorism, 4(6), 15-19.

Average Mohamed (2016). (online). Available at: https://twitter.com/AverageMohamed Published November 2016, localised December 20, 2016

Bayat, A. (2013) “Does radical Islam have an urban ecology?” In How Ordinary People Change the Middle East. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 171- 185

Braddock, K. and J. Price Dillard (2016) Meta-analytic evidence for the persuasive effect of narratives on beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors, Communication Monographs, 83:4, 446-467.

Braddock, K., and Horgan, J. (2015). Towards a guide for constructing and disseminating counter-narratives to reduce support for terrorism. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 39(5), 381-404.

Briggs, R., & Feve, S. (2013). Review of Programs to Counter Narratives of Violent

Extremism. Institute for Strategic dialogue. (online). Available at

www.counterextremism.org/resources/details/id/444, localised June 16, 2017

Buzan, B., O. Wæver & J.D. Wilde (1998) Security: A New Framework for Analysis. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1-239

Christmann, K. (2012). Preventing Religious Radicalisation and Violent Extremism. A

Systematic Review of the Research Evidence. Youth Justice Board. (online). Available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/396030/preventing-violent-extremism-systematic-review.pdf, localised June 17, 2017

Coleman, S. and D. Freelon (2015) The Internet as a Civic Space in Handbook of Digital Politics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 18-34.

Collins, J. and R. Glover (2002) “Terrorism” in Collins, John and Ross Glover Collateral Language: A User’s Guide to America’s New War, New York University Press, 155-173

Crone, M. (2016). Radicalization revisited: violence, politics and the skills of the body. International Affairs, 92(3). p. 587–604.

DailyMail (2015) Average Mohamed counters terror message with cartoon videos. Daily Mail. (online). Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-2900054/Average-Mohamed-counters-terror-message-cartoon-videos.html#ixzz4PvB1dcuf

Published January 7 2015, localised December 17 2016

Dalgaard-Nielsen, A. and P. Schack (2016) Community Resilience to Militant Islamism: Who and What? An Explorative Study of Resilience in Three Danish Communities, Democracy and Security, 12:4, 309-327

Davies, G., Neudecker, C., Ouellet, M., Bouchard, M., & Ducol, B. (2016). Toward a Framework Understading of Online Programs for Countering Violent Extremism. JD Journal for Deradicalization, 6 (Spring 2016), 51-86

Dawson, L.L. and Amarasingam, A. (2016) Talking to Foreign Fighters: Insights into the Motivations for Hijrah to Syria and Iraq, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Routledge, 1-21

De Graaf, B. (2009) Counter-Narratives and the Unrehearsed Stories Counter-Terrorists Unwittingly Produce. Perspectives on Terrorism. Vol 3. Nr. 2

Freelon, D., & Karpf, D. (2015). Of big birds and bayonets: hybrid Twitter interactivity in the 2012 Presidential debates. Information, Communication & Society, 18(4). p. 390-406.

Gemmerli, T. (2016) Avoid the pitfalls of counter narratives. Danish Institute for International Studies, Policy Brief, November 2016. (online). Available at

https://www.diis.dk/node/6900, localised June 15, 2017

Gemmerli, T. (2015) The fight against online radicalisation starts offline. Danish Institute for

International Studies, Policy Brief, April 2015. (online). Available at

https://www.diis.dk/node/4868, localised June 14, 2017

Gemmerli, T. (2014) ‘Radicalisation: a battle between politics and science’ in Theme: foreign policy radicalization. Danish Foreign Policy Society, December, 4-15. (online). Available at

http://udenrigs.dk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Udenrigs_3_2014_Web.pdf, localised June 14, 2017

Griffin, C., Squicciarini, A and S. Styer (2014) Identifying Multi-Regime Behaviors of Memes in Twitter Data. Science and Information Conference 2014 August 27-29, 2014, London, UK

Gunning, J. and R. Jackson (2011) What's so ‘religious’ about ‘religious terrorism’? Critical Studies on Terrorism 4.3, 369-388

Hansen, L. (2006) Security as practice, The New International Relations Series, 1-255

Hansen, L. (2012) Reconstructing De-securitisation: The Normative-Political in the Copenhagen School and Directions for How to Apply It, Review of International Studies, vol. 38, no. 3, 525 –546

Hemmingsen, A, M. Crone and J. P. Witt (2015) The politicisation of violence: an alternative to radicalisation. Danish Institute for International Studies, DIIS policy brief (online). Available at: http://pure.diis.dk/ws/files/284689/PB_Terrorism_or_crime_WEB.pdf

Published September 2015, localised May 22, 2017

Hemmingsen, A.S and Castro Møller, K (2017) The Trouble with counter narratives. Danish Institute for International Studies, Report 2017: 1. (online). Avaliable at

http://pure.diis.dk/ws/files/784884/DIIS_RP_2017_1.pdf, localised June 10, 2017

Jackson, R. (2007) Constructing Enemies: ‘Islamic Terrorism’ in Political and Academic Discourse. Government and Opposition, Vol. 42, No. 3, 394–426

Jungherr, A. (2014). The Logic of Political Coverage on Twitter: Temporal Dynamics and Content. Journal of Communication 64.2, 239-59.

Koehler, D. (2014). The Radical Online: Individual Radicalization Processes and the Role of

the Internet. Journal for Deradicalization, Winter (2014/15), 116-134.

Koehler, D. (2016). Understanding Deradicalization. Methods, Tools and Programs for

Countering Violent Extremism Oxon/New York: Routledge.

Lafree, G. Decker, S.H. and P.A. James (2017). Cut from the same cloth? A comparative

study of domestic extremists and gang members in the United States. Justice Quarterly Vol. 0 , Iss, 1-32

Macnair, L and R. Frank (2017) Voices Against Extremism: A case study of a community-based CVE counter-narrative campaign. JD Journal for Deradicalization,10 (Spring 2017), 147-174

Mavelli, L. (2013) Between Normalisation and Exception: The Securitisation of Islam and the Construction of the Secular Subject. Millennium: Journal of International Studies 41(2), 159–181

Meleagrou-Hitchens, A and N. Kaderbhai (2017). Research Perspectives on Online Radicalisation: A Literature Review 2006-2016. Kings College London, 1-74 (online). Avaliable at http://icsr.info/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/ResearchPerspectivesonOnlineRadicalisation.pdf, localised June 15, 2017

Pariser, E. (2012) The Filter Bubble: How the New Personalized Web is Changing What We Read and How We Think. Penguin Books, 1-55.

Richards, A. (2014) Conceptualizing Terrorism, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 37:3, 213-236

Roe, P. (2004). Securitization and minority rights: Conditions of desecuritization. Security Dialogue 35, (3), 279- 94.

Roy, O. (2008) ‘Radicalisation and De-radicalisation’, in Perspectives on Radicalisation and Political Violence - Papers from the First International Conference on Radicalisation and Political Violence, The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, 8-14

Sheikh, M.K. (2012) How does religion matter? Pathways to religion in International Relations. Review of International Studies, Volume 38, Issue 02, April 2012, 365 – 392

Stern, J. (2016) Radicalization to Extremism and Mobilization to Violence: What Have We Learned and What Can We Do about It? Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 668:1 (2016), 102-117

Talbot, D. (2015) Fighting ISIS Online. MIT Technology Review. (online). Available at: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/541801/fighting-isis-online/ Published September 30, 2015, localised May 19, 2017

The Global Coalition Against DAESH

http://theglobalcoalition.org/en/countering-daeshs-propaganda/?lang=en, localised June 18, 2017

Wæver, O. (2000) "The EU as a Security Actor: Reflections from a Pessimistic Constructivist on Post-Sovereign Security Orders." In International Relations Theory and the Politics of European Integration: Power, Security, and Community, Morten Kelstrup and Michael C. Williams, 250-294. London: Routledge, 250-294

Wæver, O. (2002) ”Identity, communities and foreign policy: Discourse analysis as foreign policy theory” I: Lene Hansen & Ole Wæver (eds.), European Integration and National Identity. London: Routledge, 20-49

Wæver, O. (2011) Politics, security, theory. Centre for Advanced Security Theory, Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Security Dialogue 42(4-5), 465–480

Zelin, A. (2015) Picture Or It Didn’t Happen: A Snapshot of the Islamic State’s Official Media Output. Perspectives on Terrorism. (online). Available at: http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/445/html Published November 2015, localised December 15, 2016

Downloads

Published

2017-06-24

Issue

Section

Articles