Radicalization's Core

Is radicalization inherently conducive to terrorism? This paper addresses this fault-line within discourses on radicalization by analyzing the political awakening and mobilization of British Muslims operating in environments targeted by violent-extremists. The results show that despite undergoing the ‘root causes’ and ‘triggers’ associated with radicalization, and even having direct contact with violent-extremists, research participants still rejected terrorism. This paper analyzes why participants’ radicalism promoted resilience to political violence rather than propel them towards it. It challenges the selection bias within terrorism and radicalization studies which constrain our ability to understand this phenomenon by focusing on the rare cases of people who support terrorism while ignoring its more common trajectories of non-terror related activism (or apathy). In correcting this bias, this paper proposes a more holistic definition of radicalization grounded in the lived realities of people undergoing that process and concludes with a discussion on what the findings mean for the assumptions underpinning academic discourses on this matter and state counterterrorism policies

Prevent-ing dissent: How the UK’s counterterrorism strategy is eroding democracy

This report reveals that, in the United Kingdom, fundamental rights and equality within social justice movements are being eroded by Prevent - the country’s strategy that aims to stop people from embracing forms of ‘extremism’ that the government claims could lead to terrorism. The fundamental rights being eroded include the freedoms of thought and belief, freedom of association and the rights to speak out and protest peacefully against state policies. Our findings suggest that, while the government’s use of the strategy continues to disproportionately impact Muslim communities, the targeting of so-called ‘nonviolent extremism’ is producing a climate in which people from non-Muslim backgrounds are also losing their ability to engage in nonviolent protest and civic action. These findings are based on interviews we conducted with people in the UK from across a range of social movements, including environmental and anti-racism movements; international solidarity campaign groups; and members of civil society groups from Muslim and non-Muslim backgrounds. We also interviewed educational professionals to understand how their officially designated role of nurturing students into becoming socially aware and politically active citizens is affected by their legal duty under Prevent to monitor and report students for signs of ‘extremism’

Power Struggles: Police and Crime Commissioners, Chief Constables and the Battle Over Operational Policing

This paper reviews the challenges that directly-elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) face in reforming controversial police tactics that are favoured by chief constables, but generate significant concerns among the electorate. Focusing on reforms to police-initiated stops, namely ‘stop and account’ and ‘stop and search’, the results suggest PCCs tend to achieve incremental changes, at best, as they struggle to overcome resistance from their chief constables and the legal constraints of ‘operational independence’. The results have significant implications because it suggests PCCs are not as powerful as has been assumed. However, PCCs can enhance the prospects of reform and better navigate resistance by exercising their rarely used soft powers, such as commissioning national regulatory bodies to review areas of concern or appealing to their local Police and Crime Panel for support in scrutiny. The results of this study are based on interviews with PCCs and chief constables, their deputies and assistants, local campaign groups and staff from national regulatory bodies, as well as participant observations across several police forces

The impact of elected police and crime commissioners in England and Wales on police-black and ethic minority community relations, with specific reference to stop and search

Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are hailed as one of the greatest constitutional reforms of the police in modern times and were elected in 2012 in a blaze of controversy. Whilst some claim these powerful actors can ensure policing is more responsive to local priorities, others claim that PCCs will undermine democratic police accountability by encouraging populism and inequalities, and become too close to their chief constables to ensure that they are more robustly held to account. This thesis investigates whether PCCs have improved local police accountability through a mixed-methods study of how police-initiated stops are governed in three PCC areas, using interviews, observations, and statistical and documentary analysis. As such, it is one of the first empirical studies to explore this new model of police governance, certainly in relation to the operation of police powers. Research suggests that police-initiated stops are a flash-point in relations with ethnic minority communities, are disproportionately used against them, and has reduced perceptions of police legitimacy. Despite this, their use has grown exponentially and, as this thesis argues, is exemplary of a democratic deficit in local police accountability whereby police officers have become more responsive to national government in exercising their powers rather than local priorities. Unexpectedly, stop and search became heavily politicised during the fieldwork, resulting in improved governance and dramatic reductions in their use. The findings suggest that this was due to national developments, thus indicating that although police powers are amenable to external influence, their governance remains highly centralised. However, chief officers remain powerful in determining whether any reforms are implemented locally. Despite potential controversies, PCCs have been able to influence various operational practices but appear too hesitant to risk this for 'minority issues' like police-initiated stops, thus undermining their own capacity to enhance local democratic police accountability