‘Outsourcing patriarchy’ in preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE)

Abstract

In recent years, many Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) programs, formed to counter radicalisation into ‘jihadist’ extremism, have begun to address far-right extremism. In this paper, we critically assess this expansion through a focus on masculinities. We conduct an in-depth intersectional analysis of representations of masculinities in 87 publications by ten influential organisations working in transnational P/CVE. We explore how these representations intersect with identity markers of race, age, class and geographic location and how they are connected to notions about gendered and political violence as systemic or aberrant. We relate this to an underlying dynamic which Inderpal Grewal has termed ‘outsourcing patriarchy’, a move which aligns patriarchal and misogynist ideas with the Non-West. Our analysis shows that despite efforts to overcome both gender-blindness and the singular focus on ‘jihadist’ extremism, P/CVE programs still tend to be based on notions of masculinities that perpetuate patriarchal and colonial legacies.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Amna Kaleem and Alice Martini for including us in the most inspiring workshop on P/CVE at the 2022 EISA EWIS. We’d also like to thank Lisa Sugiura and Catherine Baker from the IRMS European writing group for their helpful feedback on an early draft of this article.

Notes

1 We follow Sentas (2006) writing of counter terrorism, rather than counterterrorism with the assumption that counter terrorism can also be read as a form of terrorism with a different context. The writing thus reflects debates about when and how terrorism can be committed by state actors without centering this question in the article.

2 In the literature, the list of concrete activities referred to under the label of P/CVE is indeed long, and can include border security, military intervention, legislation, intelligence, infrastructure protection, crisis planning, conflict resolution (Nasser-Eddine et al., 2011), community policing, arrests, punishments and probation, education systems, community cohesion programs, counselling (Koehler 2017), the development of counter-narratives, capacity building with youth and women, religious rehabilitation and dialogue programs, vocational trainings, social support for families (El-Said, 2015), development assistance, online interventions, public diplomacy, de-radicalisation in and out of prison, awareness campaigns, research and development (Harris-Hogan, Barrelle, and Zammit 2016) and more.

3 The research and practice of counter terrorism is somewhat of a definitional black hole. Marwick et.al. (2022) emphasises that radicalisation is a heavily contested term, variously and vaguely associated with either the adoption of radical beliefs or violent action, or both. They further highlight that identifying what qualifies as ‘extremist’ or ‘radical’ beliefs is a highly political and normative move. Due to this political nature, even a universal definition of terrorism has remained elusive, not to speak of a consensus of the so-called drivers of ‘radicalisation’, which has meant that the practice of counter terrorism and P/CVE is based on various often contradictory interpretations, assumptions and theories.

4 Kate Manne (2018) distinguishes between sexism and misogyny, explaining though interrelated that sexism is the ideology that supports patriarchal social relations and misogyny is the enforcement mechanism of that system that punishes those who do not act accordingly. Importantly, we understand misogyny and male supremacism as something not unique to incel spaces but reflective of larger societal structures.

5 Masculinity refers to ‘the social expectations of manhood and the social structuring of hierarchies based on the privileging of what is considered masculine and the devaluation of that considered feminine’ (Roose et al. 2022, 1). Gender, feminist and critical masculinities scholars recognise that there are multiple masculinities that exist simultaneously but are also altered spatially and temporarily (Connell and Messerschmidt 2005).

6 There are other, well-known discussions about types of masculinities; most notably the one centred around Connell’s notion of hegemonic masculinities and their relationship with complicit, subordinated and marginalised masculinities. While these discussions are relevant to and inform our own three masculinity types, we decided to primarily work from the literature on political violence to assess when and how masculinity has emerged and been set in relation to violence. We do not intend this as a typology but as an analytical lens of the masculinities that emerged from the existing literature (silent, hyper-violent, vulnerable), that we then use to assess masculinities in the P/CVE sphere and how they are set against each other.

7 Grewal explicitly focuses on the United States and Europe as the West and the Middle East and South Asia as the (ethnic) spaces that the West ‘outsources’ patriarchy to.

8 Several misogynist incels attackers were of mixed race, but largely reported on as white.

9 The keywords were: men, women, masculinit*ies, femininit*ies, gender, man, woman, boy*, girl*, male, female, family, mother, father, son, daughter, wife, bride, husband, single, patriarchy, misogyn*. A document was not included if these words only appeared as part of a description of a demographic of male/female.

10 The keywords included were: crisis, mental health, vulnerable, mental illness, bullying, rejection, autism, marginalised/marginalized, precarious, at-risk. These were only coded for if the document was selected based on the previous criteria.

11 One document was excluded despite fulfilling the criteria based on the circumstance that one of the authors was included meaningfully in its drafting process. A full list of the documents can be made available upon request.

12 If an article was coded as “silent” masculinity, since that meant that masculinity was not explicitly referenced, it was not coded as ‘crisis’ or ‘hyper-violent’.

13 It is important to note that an individual article could be coded as both displaying vulnerable and hyper-violent masculinity. Articles that focused on several types of extremisms were coded for both or all three types as well. This means that a quantitative analysis that correlates the values is only of limited benefit, since there can be divergent relations between extremism and masculinity ‘types’ depending on which sections of the articles are being discussed.

14 It is relevant to note that children are not considered as part of this category, but are rather treated as a distinct category that is much more associated with women and femininity, as seen in the consistent use of the phrase ‘women and children’ throughout the reports.

15 To illustrate the themes coded from the reports we cite those reports which we find especially strong on the particular representation in question. This does not mean however, that the representation is limited to those reports cited, but rather that those cited can be understood as particularly indicative thereof.

16 Despite being a developmental condition rather than a mental health illness itself, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is often mentioned in relation to mental health in the reports, which might be due to both a common public assumption that autism is itself a mental illness or due to the fact that people with ASD often experience mental health issues as well.

Additional information

Funding

Megan Kelly is funded by the Freiwillige Akademische Gesellschaft and the Swiss National Science Foundation [Grant Number: P00PS_203912].

Notes on contributors

Ann-Kathrin Rothermel

Ann-Kathrin Rothermel is a postdoc researcher at the University of Bern where she works on the HORIZON project UNTWIST on anti-gender politics in Europe. She is also a fellow at the Institute for Research on Male Supremacism. Her research connects insights on the gendered dynamics of radicalisation within online male supremacist and far-right communities with global and transnational governance efforts to prevent and counter terrorism and violent extremism. Her work has been published in international peer-reviewed journals such as International Affairs, the International Feminist Journal of Politics, and Big Data and Society. Email: [email protected]

Megan Kelly

Megan Kelly is a PhD student at the University of Basel and a research fellow at the Institute for Research on Male Supremacism. Her research interests include the relationship between identity formation, masculinities, whiteness, and victimhood in online supremacist and far-right movements and responses to these movements. Her work appears in Critical Studies on Terrorism, The Public Eye, and in the edited collection Male Supremacism in the United States. Email: [email protected]