The Impact of Preventing Violent Extremism Policies on Democracy

• In Event: Democratic Backsliding and Extremism

Abstract

We present the most important findings from our book "The Politics of Preventing Violent Extremism: Liberal Democracy, Civil Society, Radicalisation and Vulnerability" (Oxford University Press). The main aim of this book is to analyse the impacts of “Preventing Violent Extremism” (PVE) policies and programs upon democratic norms and structures in liberal democratic societies. The book examines how the PVE agenda renegotiates the relationship between civil society and state through the idea that the former can no longer be left unattended by the latter, lest extremism fester in towns and cities. It interrogates the rapidly spreading subject position of “vulnerability” and how it leads to the erosion of many rights and freedoms that the liberal humanist subject once enjoyed. Finally, it investigates the work of “multi-agency collaboration" in PVE and the associated diminution of accountability and privacy rights for its subjects. We take these three over-arching themes and apply them to empirical research drawn from eight national case studies of PVE programs in Europe, as well as engaging in historical research into the genesis of preventive crime governance internationally.

Authors

• Sadi Shanaah, University of Warwick

• Charlotte Heath-Kelly, PAIS, University of Warwick