| Summary: | "The Politics of Preventing Violent Extremism explores how counter-radicalisation policies have come to dominate European counterterrorism and security. Using interviews with practitioners across seven European nations, it documents how national security policies have been repurposed to identify individuals deemed 'vulnerable' to extremism and radicalisation, and to provide targeted, preventative interventions from welfare state agencies. Crucially, however, the methods (and limits) of Preventing Violent Extremism policies vary between nations. The Politics of Preventing Violent Extremism explores how political culture, the welfare state and the conception of civil society in each nation shapes the type of counter-radicalisation employed. While some European states have designed extensive pre-crime surveillance networks to identify those 'radicalising', others are bound by constitutional commitments to liberty of thought and speech and restrain from any type of pre-crime intervention. Accordingly, while Preventing Violent Extremism policies have been heralded as a novel solution to the problem of radicalisation, they remain rooted in, and limited by, the political and social traditions of European democracies"-- Provided by publisher
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