Prevent as an Intractable Policy Controversy: Implications and Solutions

Authors

  • James Lewis PhD Candidate, Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion, Lancaster University

Keywords:

Countering Violent Extremism, Radicalisation, Prevent

Abstract

Academic literature on the Prevent counter-radicalisation strategy has long been dominated by negative voices. Whilst these authors have made important criticisms of the strategy, this literature has often neglected insights from those who deliver Prevent, which has left a seemingly intractable gap between critics and supporters of the strategy. To address this empirical weakness in the existing literature, this paper analyses interviews with 12 individuals employed to deliver Prevent at the local authority level, and in doing so discusses the potential for bridging this gap between critics and supporters of Prevent through empirical research. Using Donald Schön and Martin Rein’s work on policy framing as its theoretical framework, this paper presents counter-radicalisation as an ‘intractable policy controversy’ in which protagonists hold strongly-held, and opposing, views on the morality of Prevent. However, through an analysis of the interview data, the paper outlines some potential foundations for fostering meaningful engagement between critical and positive voices that need not undermine the strongly-held moral convictions of either side. In doing so, the paper concludes by arguing that a different approach to analysing Prevent rooted in empirical investigation will be needed if we are to move an increasingly stale debate on the strategy forward in a meaningful way.

Author Biography

James Lewis, PhD Candidate, Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion, Lancaster University

Corresponding Author Contact: James Lewis, Email: j.lewis8@lancaster.ac.uk, Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YG.

References

Adams, R. (2017) ‘Inspectors to Question Primary School Girls who Wear Hijab’, The Guardian [Online], available at https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/nov/19/school-inspectors-to-question-primary-school-girls-who-wear-hijab, accessed 8 April 2018.

Ahmed, W. (2017) ‘Prevent Referrals: The Story Behind the Headlines’, Huffington Post UK, available at https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/prevent-referrals-the-story-beyond-the-headlines_uk_5a157af8e4b0f401dfa7ec29, accessed 2 April 2018.

Alam, Y. and Husband, C. (2012) ‘Parallel Policies and Contradictory Practices: The Case of Social Cohesion and Counter-Terrorism in the United Kingdom’, COLLeGIUM: Studies across Disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences, (11), pp. 135-156.

Anderson, D. (2016) Supplementary Written Evidence Submitted to the Home Affairs Select Committee, available at http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc

/evidencedocument/home-affairs-committee/countering-extremism/written/27920.pdf, accessed 2 April 2018.

Baldet, W. (2017) ‘Prevent: A Personal Reflection’, Huffington Post UK, available at https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/will-baldat/prevent-a-personal-reflec_b_17700358.html, accessed 2 April 2018.

BBC (2016) Lancashire ‘Terrorist House’ Row ‘Not a Spelling Mistake’, available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-35354061, accessed 2 April 2018.

Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2006) ‘Using Thematic analysis in Psychology’, Qualitative Research in Psychology, (3:2), pp. 77-101.

Breen, D. (2018) ‘Critical Race Theory, Policy Rhetoric and Outcomes: The Case of Muslim Schools in Britain’, Race Ethnicity and Education, (21:1), pp. 30-44.

Bryan, H. (2017) ‘Developing the Political Citizen: How Teachers are Navigating the Statutory Demands of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 and the Prevent Duty’, Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, (12:3), pp. 213-226.

Busher, J., Choudhury, T., Thomas, P. and Harris, G. (2017) What the Prevent Duty Means for Schools and Colleges in England: An Analysis of Educationalists’ Experiences, London: Aziz Foundation, available at http://azizfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/What-the-Prevent-Duty-means-for-schools-and-colleges-in-England.pdf, accessed 2 April 2018.

Casey, L. (2016) The Casey Review: A Review into Opportunity and Integration, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/575973/The_Casey_Review_Report.pdf, accessed 2 April 2018.

Clandinin, D. J. and Rosiek, J. (2007) ‘Mapping a Landscape of Narrative Inquiry: Borderland Spaces and Tensions’ in Clandinin, D. J. (ed.) Handbook of Narrative Inquiry: Mapping a Methodology, London: Sage, pp. 35-76.

Clarke, J., Stubbs, P., Lendvai, N., & Bainton, D (2015) Making Policy Move: Towards A Politics of Translation and Assemblage, Bristol: Policy Press.

Clubb, G. (2016) Social Movement De-Radicalisation and the Decline of Terrorism: The Morphogenesis of the Irish Republican Movement, Abingdon: Routledge.

Davies, L. (2008) Educating Against Extremism, Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books.

Dearden, L. (2018) ‘Finsbury Park Attacker Turned Violent by Far-Right posts from Tommy Robinson and Britain First, Police Say’, The Independent [Online], available at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/finsbury-park-terror-attack-tommy-robinson-far-right-britain-first-mark-rowley-speech-police-a8229936.html, accessed 8 April 2018.

Dekker, R. (2017) ‘Frame Ambiguity in Policy Controversies: Critical Frame Analysis of Migrant Integration Policies in Antwerp and Rotterdam’, Critical Policy Studies, (11: 2), pp. 127-145.

Department for Education (2015) Protecting Children from Radicalisation: The Prevent Duty, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protecting-children-from-radicalisation-the-prevent-duty, accessed 8 April 2018.

Dryden, M. (2017) ‘Radicalisation: The Last Taboo in Safeguarding and Child Protection? Assessing Practitioner Preparedness in Preventing the Radicalisation of Looked-After Children’, Journal for Deradicalization, (13), pp. 101-136.

Dudenhoefer, A. (2018) ‘Resisting Radicalisation: A Critical Analysis of the UK Prevent Duty’, Journal for Deradicalization, (14), pp. 143-191.

Durodie, B. (2016) ‘Securitising Education to Prevent Terrorism or Losing Direction?’, British Journal of Educational Studies, (64:1), pp. 21-35.

Edwards, P. (2015) ‘How (Not) to Create Ex-Terrorists: Prevent as Ideological Warfare’ in Baker-Beall, C., Heath-Kelly, C. and Jarvis, L. (eds.) Counter-Radicalisation: Critical Perspectives, Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 54-70.

Elshimi, M. (2015) ‘De-Radicalisation Interventions as Technologies of the Self: A Foucauldian Analysis’, Critical Studies on Terrorism, (8:1), pp. 110-129.

Greer, S. and Bell, L. (2018) ‘Counter-Terrorist Law in British Universities: A Review of the “Prevent” Debate’, Public Law, (01.2018), pp. 84-105.

Heath-Kelly, C. (2012) ‘Reinventing Prevention or Exposing the Gap? False Positives in UK Terrorism Governance and the Quest for Pre-Emption’, Critical Studies on Terrorism, (5:1), pp. 69-87.

Heath-Kelly, C., Baker-Beall, C. and Jarvis L. (2015), ‘Introduction’ in Baker-Beall, C., Heath-Kelly, C. and Jarvis, L. (eds.) Counter-Radicalisation: Critical Perspectives, Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 1-13.

Hisschemöller, M. and Hoppe, R. (1995) ‘Coping with Intractable Controversies: The Case for Problem Structuring in Policy Design and Analysis’, Knowledge and Policy (8:4), pp. 40-60.

HM Government (2006) Countering International Terrorism: The United Kingdom’s Strategy, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-united-kingdoms-strategy-for-countering-international-terrorism, accessed 2 April 2018.

HM Government (2009) Pursue, Prevent, Protect, Prepare: The United Kingdom’s Strategy for Countering International Terrorism, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-united-kingdoms-strategy-for-countering-international-terrorism, accessed 2 April 2018.

HM Government (2010) Equality Act 2010, available at https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/pdfs/ukpga_20100015_en.pdf, accessed 8 April 2018.

HM Government (2015) Channel Duty Guidance, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/channel-guidance, accessed 17 June 2018.

Holmwood, J. and O’Toole, T. (2018) Countering Extremism in British Schools? The Truth about the Birmingham Trojan Horse Affair, London: Policy Press.

Home Office (2011) Prevent Strategy, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-strategy-2011, accessed 2 April 2018.

Home Office (2015a) Prevent Duty Guidance, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance, accessed 2 April 2018.

Home Office (2015b) Counter-Extremism Strategy, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counter-extremism-strategy, accessed 10 June 2018.

Home Office (2017) Individuals Referred to and Supported through the Prevent Programme Statistics, April 2015 to March 2016, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/individuals-referred-to-and-supported-through-the-prevent-programme-statistics, accessed 2 April 2018.

Home Office (2018a) Counter-Terrorism Strategy (CONTEST) 2018, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counter-terrorism-strategy-contest-2018, accessed 10 June 2018.

Home Office (2018b) Individuals Referred to and Supported through the Prevent Programme Statistics, April 2016 to March 2017, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/individuals-referred-to-and-supported-through-the-prevent-programme-statistics, accessed 17 June 2018.

House of Commons Education Select Committee (2015) Extremism in Schools: The Trojan Horse Affair, available at http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/22429/1/9780215084200.pdf, accessed 8 April 2018.

Iacopini, G., Stock, L. and Junge, K. (2011) Evaluation of Tower Hamlets Prevent Projects: Final Report, London: Tavistock Institute, available at http://www.tavinstitute.org

/projects/evaluation-of-tower-hamlets-prevent-projects/, accessed 2 April 2018.

Innes, M., Roberts, C., & Lowe, T. (2017) ‘A Disruptive Influence? “Preventing” Problems and Countering Violent Extremism Policy in Practice’ Law & Society Review, (51:2), pp. 252-281

Jackson, R. (2016) ‘To be or Not to be Policy Relevant? Power, Emancipation and Resistance in CTS Research’, Critical Studies on Terrorism, (9:1), pp. 120-125.

Jackson, R., Breen-Smyth, M. and Gunning, J. (2009) ‘Critical Terrorism Studies: Framing a New Research Agenda’ in Jackson, R., Breen-Smyth, M. and Gunning, J. (eds.) Critical Terrorism Studies: A New Research Agenda, Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 216-236.

Javid, S. (2018) Home Secretary Announces New Counter-Terrorism Strategy, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/home-secretary-announces-new-counter-terrorism-strategy, accessed 17 June 2018.

Joint Committee on Human Rights (2016) Counter-Extremism, available at https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt201617/jtselect/jtrights/105/105.pdf, accessed 8 April 2018.

Knill, C. (2013) ‘The Study of Morality Policy: Analytical Implications from a Public Policy Perspective’, Journal of European Public Policy, (20:3), pp. 309-317.

Kundnani, A. (2012) ‘Radicalisation: The Journey of a Concept’, Race and Class, (54:2), pp. 3-25.

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

Lander, V. (2016) ‘Introduction to Fundamental British Values’, Journal of Education for Teaching, (42:3), pp. 274-279.

Lusher, A. (2017) ‘British Muslim 'Industry' Accused of Undermining Deradicalisation Efforts’, The Independent [Online], available at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk

/home-news/prevent-strategy-extremism-muslims-islamist-terrorism-nazir-afzal-muslim-cou

ncil-of-britain-islamic-a7771071.html, accessed 8 April 2018.

Lundie, D. (2017) Security, Safeguarding and the Curriculum: Recommendations for Effective Multi-Agency Prevent Work in Schools, Liverpool: Liverpool Hope University, available at https://educationstudiesathope.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/security-safeguarding-and-the-curriculum-recommendations-for-multiagency-prevent-work-in-schools.pdf, accessed 17 June 2018.

Marsden, S., Lewis, J. and Knott, K. (2017) Countering Violent Extremism: An Introduction, Lancaster: Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST), available at https://crestresearch.ac.uk/resources/countering-violent-extremism/, accessed 2 April 2018.

McDonald, M. (2009), ‘Emancipation and Critical Terrorism Studies’, in Jackson, R., Breen-Smyth, M. and Gunning, J. (eds.) Critical Terrorism Studies: A New Research Agenda, Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 109-123.

McElroy, J. (2018) ‘In Defence of the Prevent Programme’, Times Educational Supplement [Online], available at https://www.tes.com/news/defence-prevent-programme, accessed 17 June 2018.

Mooney, C. Z. (2001) The Public Clash of Private Values: The Politics of Morality Policy, Washington: CQ Press.

Morral, A. R, Schell, T. L, and Tankard, M. (2018) The Magnitude and Sources of Disagreement Among Gun Policy Experts, Santa Monica, CA: RAND, available at https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2088z1.html, accessed 20 May 2018.

NPCC (2014) National Channel Referral Figures, available at http://www.npcc.police.uk

/FreedomofInformation/NationalChannelReferralFigures.aspx, accessed 2 April 2018.

O’Donnell, A. (2016) ‘Securitisation, Counterterrorism and the Silencing of Dissent: The Educational Implications of Prevent’, British Journal of Educational Studies, (64:1), pp. 53-76.

Panjwani, F., Revell, L., Gholami, R. and Diboll, M. (2018) Education and Extremisms: Rethinking Liberal Pedagogies in the Contemporary World, Abingdon: Routledge.

Qureshi, A. (2017) ‘Our Criticism of Prevent is Based on Facts, not Myths', Al Jazeera [Online], available at https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/07/criticism-prevent-based-facts-myths-170703072558455.html, accessed 8 April 2018.

Ramesh, R. and Halliday, J. (2015) ‘Student accused of being a terrorist for reading book on terrorism’, The Guardian [Online], available at https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/sep/24/student-accused-being-terrorist-reading-book-terrorism, accessed 17 June 2018.

Rein, M., & Schön, D. A. (1977) ‘Problem Setting in Policy Research’ in Weiss, C. H. (Ed.), Using Social Research in Public Policy Making, Lexington: Lexington Books, pp. 235-251.

Richards, A. (2015) ‘From Terrorism to ‘Radicalization’ to ‘Extremism’: Counterterrorism Imperative or Loss of Focus?’, International Affairs (91:2), pp. 371-380.

Scholten, P. W. A. (2011) Framing Immigrant Integration: Dutch Research-Policy Dialogues in Comparative Perspective, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

Scholten, P. W. A. and Van Nispen, F. K. M. (2008) ‘Building Bridges Across Frames? A Meta-Evaluation of Dutch Integration Policy’, Journal of Public Policy, (28:2), pp. 181-205.

Schön, D. and Rein, M. (1994) Frame Reflection: Toward the Resolution of Intractable Policy Controversies, New York: Basic Books.

Sian, K. (2017) 'Born Radicals? Prevent, Positivism, and ‘Race-Thinking’' Palgrave Communications Journal, (3:6), pp. 1-8.

Singh, A. (2016) Eroding Trust: The UK’s Prevent Counter-Extremism Strategy in Health and Education, London: Open Society Justice Initiative, available at https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/reports/eroding-trust-uk-s-prevent-counter-extremism-strategy-health-and-education, accessed 2 April 2018.

Snow, D. and Byrd, D. (2007) ‘Ideology, Framing Processes, and Islamic Terrorist Movements’, Mobilization: An International Quarterly, (12: 2), pp. 119-136.

Snowdon, K. (2016) ‘Muslim Boy's 'Terrorist House' Spelling Error Leads To Lancashire Police Investigation’, Huffington Post UK, available at https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2016/01/20/muslim-child-terrorist-house-spelling-error_n_9025336.html, accessed 2 April 2018.

Stanley, T. and Guru, S. (2015) ‘Childhood Radicalisation Risk: An Emerging Practice Issue’, Practice, (27:5), pp. 353-366.

Tarling, R. J. (2006) Managing Social Research: A Practical Guide, Abingdon: Routledge.

Taylor, J. D. (2018) ‘‘Suspect Categories,’ Alienation and Counterterrorism: Critically Assessing PREVENT in the UK’, Terrorism and Political Violence, pp. 1-23.

Thomas, P. (2009) ‘Between Two Stools? The Government’s ‘Preventing Violent Extremism’ Agenda’, The Political Quarterly, (80:2), pp. 282-291.

Thomas, P. (2012) Responding to the Threat of Violent Extremism: Failing to Prevent, London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Thomas, P. (2017) ‘Changing Experiences of Responsibilisation and Contestation within Counter-Terrorism Policies: the British Prevent Experience’, Policy and Politics, (45:3), pp. 305-321.

Thomas-Johnson, A. (2018) ‘Muslim Groups Hit Back at Counter-Terror Police Chief over Extremism Speech’, Middle East Eye [Online], available at http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/muslim-groups-hit-back-counter-terror-police-chief-remarks-1710607024, accessed 8 April 2018.

Thornton, A. and Bouhana, N. (2017) ‘Preventing Radicalization in the UK: Expanding the Knowledge-Base on the Channel Programme’, Policing, pp. 1-14.

Toros, H. (2016) ‘Dialogue, Praxis and the State: A Response to Richard Jackson’, Critical Studies on Terrorism, (9:1), pp. 126-130.

Toros, H. and Gunning, J. (2009) ‘Exploring a Critical Theory Approach to Critical Terrorism Studies’, in Jackson, R., Breen-Smyth, M. and Gunning, J. (eds.) Critical Terrorism Studies: A New Research Agenda, Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 87-108.

Tribe, L. H. (1991) Abortion: The Clash of Absolutes, New York: W. W. Norton.

van Hulst, M. and Yanow, D. (2016) ‘From Policy “Frames” to “Framing”: Theorizing a More Dynamic, Political Approach’, The American Review of Public Administration, (46:1), pp. 92-112.

Weale, S. (2017) ‘Prevent Strategy Stigmatising Muslim Pupils, Say Teachers’, The Guardian [Online], available at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/03/prevent-strategy-anti-radicalisation-stigmatising-muslim-pupils-teachers, accessed 2 April 2018.

Webster, L. and Mertova, P. (2008) Using Narrative Inquiry as a Research Method: An Introduction to Using Critical Event Narrative Analysis in Research on Learning and Teaching, London: Routledge.

Weeks, D. (2017) ‘Doing Derad: An Analysis of the U.K. System’, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, (41:7), pp. 523-540.

Downloads

Published

2018-06-24

Issue

Section

Articles