CTS and normativity: the essentials of preemptive counter-terrorism interventions

ABSTRACT

This article critically assesses calls for “normativity” in counter-radicalisation and counter-extremism, and suggests that aligning with hegemonic narratives about securing the “pre-crime” space is problematic in a context of emancipation. Utilising interviews with a number of Prevent officials (including Channel “de-radicalisation” mentors), the article argues that when any counter-radicalisation regime is implemented, two traits are necessarily inherent: identity construction, and “concerned concern”, both of which are based on subjective speculation about an individual’s future intent. Identity construction in preemptive counter-terrorism works through prejudiced human imagination in order to normalise perceived and “risky” divergence, but which is mired in contradictions precisely because practitioners interpret risk (and therefore divergence) differently. Concerned concern is a paradoxical constitution both of support for and protection against individuals. Ultimately, in exploring these two concepts, the article critically engages with the notion that Prevent is “just another safeguarding duty”. Building on earlier critical terrorism scholarship, this discussion shows how worst-case logics apparent in national discourse are largely absent at the point of implementation, yet pejorative identity-construction and some suspicion (no matter how banalised) are implicit in any risk-managing scheme in a counter-terrorism context. These qualities are incompatible with an emancipatory agenda.

KEYWORDS:

• Counter-radicalisation
• Channel
• de-radicalisation
• radicalisation
• safeguarding

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my supervisor, Charlotte Heath-Kelly, for her consistent and tireless support.

Disclosure statement

There are no conflicts of interests to be declared.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tom Pettinger

Tom Pettinger I am a PhD student at the University of Warwick, interested in the production and silencing of knowledge in the field of terrorism. Primarily I study the Prevent strategy and Channel “deradicalisation” interventions, in order to show how knowledge of terrorism has shifted seismically after the conclusion of the Northern Irish conflict in 1998, and the consequences this has.