Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T09:33:37.416Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Terror Crime Prevention: Constructing Muslim Practices and Beliefs as ‘Anti-Social’ and ‘Extreme’ through CONTEST 2

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 December 2009

Basia Spalek  and
Laura Zahra McDonald
Basia Spalek
Affiliation:
IASS, University of Birmingham E-mail: [email protected]
Laura Zahra McDonald
Affiliation:
IASS, University of Birmingham E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article discusses recent research into engagement and partnership work between Muslim communities and police for the purposes of counter-terrorism. It is argued that asserting a notion of ‘shared values’ as a foundational criterion for choosing which individuals/groups to engage in countering terrorism is strategically flawed. Not only is the notion of ‘values’ overly diffuse and conceptually ill-defined, it is dangerous in its potential to construct even the most normative Muslim practices and beliefs as ‘anti-social’ and ‘extreme’. This is likely to further alienate Muslim communities in general and to exclude those groups with whom the State has so far successfully engaged to counter terrorism. The article further reflects upon engagement and partnership work between police and Muslim minorities perceived as ‘radical’, highlighting how the goal of terror crime prevention can be – and is – shared between police and communities, despite negative and stigmatizing impacts of the ‘War on Terror’.

Type
Themed section on Disciplining Difference
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , January 2010 , pp. 123 - 132
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Briggs, R., Fieschi, C. and Lownsbrough, H. (2006), Bringing It Home: Community-Based Approaches to Counter-Terrorism, London: Demos.Google Scholar
Bright, M. (2006), When Progressives Treat with Reactionaries: The British State's Flirtation with Radical Islamism, London: Policy Exchange.Google Scholar
Cantle Report (2001), ‘Community cohesion’, a report of the Independent Review Team, chaired by Ted Cantle, Home Office.Google Scholar
Edwards, A. and Hughes, G. (2002), ‘Introduction: the community governance of crime control’, in Hughes, G. and Edwards, A. (eds.), Crime Control and Community, Cullompton: Willan, pp. 1–19.Google Scholar
Findlay, M. (2007), ‘Terrorism and relative justice’, Crime Law and Social Change, 47: 57–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Findlay, M. (2008), Governing through Globalised Crime, Devon: Willan Publishing.Google Scholar
Innes, M. (2006), ‘Policing uncertainty: countering terror through community intelligence and democratic policing’, Annals of APSS, 605, May, pp 1–20.Google Scholar
Garland, J., Spalek, B. and Chakraborti, N. (2006), ‘Hearing lost voices: issues in researching hidden minority ethnic communities’, The British Journal of Criminology, 46, 423–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HM Government (HMG) (2006), Countering International Terrorism: The United Kingdom's Strategy, July, presented to Parliament by the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for the Home Department by Command of Her Majesty.Google Scholar
HMG (2008), The Prevent Strategy: A Guide for Local Partners in England – Stopping People Becoming or Supporting Terrorists and Violent Extremists, London: HMSO.Google Scholar
HMG (2009), Pursue, Prevent, Protect, Prepare: The United Kingdom's Strategy for Countering International Terrorism, CM 7547, London: Home Office.Google Scholar
Lambert, R. and Tupman, B. (2007), ‘Building bridges’, Journal of International Security, 17, 2, 29–31.Google Scholar
Mythen, G. and Walklate, S. (2006), ‘Criminology and terrorism’, British Journal of Criminology, 46, 3, 379–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prior, D. and Spalek, B. (2008), ‘Anti-social behaviour and minority ethnic populations’, in Squires, P. (ed.), ASBO Nation: The Criminalisation of Nuisance, Bristol: Policy Press, pp. 117–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rabasa, A. (2005), Moderate and Radical Islam, CT-251, Testimony presented before the House Armed Services Committee Defense Review: Terrorism and Radical Islam Gap Panel on 3 November 2005, RAND Corporation Testimony Series.Google Scholar
Ray, L., Smith, D. and Wastell, L. (2004), ‘Shame, rage and racist violence’, British Journal of Criminology, 44, 350–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ritchie Report (2001), Oldham Independent Review, December, David Ritchie, chair.Google Scholar
Simon, J. (2007), Governing through Crime: How the War on Crime Transformed American Democracy and Created a Culture of Fear, New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spalek, B., El-Awa, S. and McDonald, L. Z. (2009), Police–Muslim Engagement and Partnerships for the Purposes of Counter-Terrorism: An Examination, University of Birmingham Publication.Google Scholar
Spalek, B. and Lambert, B. (2008), ‘Muslim communities, counter-terrorism and de-radicalisation: a reflective approach to engagement’, International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 36, 4, 257–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spalek, B. and Imtoual, A. (2007), ‘“Hard” approaches to community engagement in the UK and Australia: Muslim communities and counter-terror responses’, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 27, 2, 185–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thiel, D. (2009), Policing Terrorism: A Review of the Evidence, London: The Police Foundation.Google Scholar
Young, J. (1999), The Exclusive Society, London: Sage.Google Scholar