Beyond Counter-terrorism: The Societal Project of Counter-radicalisation

Since the murder of Theo van Gogh (2004), the bombings in Madrid (2004) and in London (2005), up until the Charlie Hebdo and Bataclan attacks in Paris (2015), counter-radicalization has turned from a national policy objective of a few European states to a global policy priority promoted by a large number of international institutions, including the United Nations Security Council. How to conceptualize the spread of an apparently technical policy of crime prevention across an ever growing number of national and international policy areas? Based on field research in local, national and international settings, the paper argues that CVE should not only be conceptualized only a technical security policy, but instead as a broader political movement that promotes a determinate worldview about how society and politics should be organized. Drawing on the Bourdieusian reflection around relations of domination between social fields, the Paper shows that counter-radicalisation plugs into and accentuates pre-existing conflicts in determinate social fields (education, healthcare, community work, social work, prison) in which battles are being fought over different societal projects.