The Home Office in the UK recently announced that it will pledge an extra £12.5 million to support new initiatives to stop the spread of extremism. The government's 'deradicalisation' programme aims to build social cohesion and improve awareness of the issues across society by reaching out to those members of society who may be vulnerable to extremist views.
As part of its 'Prevent' strategy, the government is implementing a range of measures aimed at improving community resilience to extremism and countering the threat of domestic terrorism. The proposal has caused controversy because those connected to extremist groups will not automatically be prosecuted. Instead, individuals identified as being 'at risk' will be offered counselling and support from local community groups and other networks.
Home Office statistics, cited by Statewatch, show that a total of 1,165 arrests were made in the UK, excluding Northern Ireland, in the five-and-a-half years following 9/11 under the Terrorism Act 2000.
The rapid escalation of the terrorist threat is undeniable. Dr Andrew Coburn, director of terrorism research at Risk Management Solutions (RMS), highlights the devastating impact of terrorism over the last few years: "There is no doubt that the past three years has been historically the most violent period. More than 1,000 'macro' attacks (car bombs or worse) worldwide have left more than 15,000 people dead and 30,000 people injured." He adds that attacks are moving beyond the traditional "theatres of conflict", such as Afghanistan, and becoming more widespread, with major terrorist attacks having occurred in 44 different countries since 9/11.
Taking what the government terms a "fresh approach", its deradicalisation programme hopes to counter terrorism at its root. The aim of the proposals is to extend police-led multi-agency projects to identify and support people at risk of being targeted by violent extremists; to work closely with young people who have been identified as being open to extremist views; to work in prisons to identify and stop the spread of radicalisation in these institutions; and to provide funding to enable local communities to tackle the spread of extremism through innovative projects.
On its unveiling, the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, said: "A key element of our strategy aims to stop people getting involved in extremist violence, and only by working together and building on our shared values can we prevent terrorism in the first place."
But the opposition is sceptical. Ex-shadow home secretary David Davis reportedly said the deradicalisation programme was "pointless", claiming the government is "fuelling the problem it is seeking to solve with its draconian approach", in light of the current debate over the decision to allow police to hold terrorist suspects without charge for up to 42 days.
In addressing the issue of extremism, the government has described in its publication of the 'Preventing Violent Extremism' strategy how police and local authorities have a "critically important" role to play. In October last year, the communities and local government secretary, Hazel Blears, announced £45m in funding for local partnerships from 2008 to 2011. As well as heavy investment in local projects over the coming year, an additional £18m has been added to police budgets in key areas to recruit more neighbourhood officers who will be involved in engaging with Muslim communities at a grassroots level. Local Youth Offending Teams are also getting £3.5m over two years for work with young criminals identified as potential risks.
Another key factor in the deradicalisation strategy is to support the Radical Middle Way (RMW) project. The RMW brings together Muslim scholars to speak to young British Muslims, which the government hopes will work to stop young people getting involved in extremist violence.
With clear differences between systems of government and socio-demographic and socio-economic factors, responses to terrorism in countries across the world can differ markedly. With a more 'top-down' approach, the Australian government, for example, has set up a National Counter-Terrorism Committee (NCTC) – a body of senior officials that allows discussion between states and jurisdictions on counter-terrorism arrangements.
With this global escalation in terrorist attacks, understanding and therefore managing the threat of terrorism is a top priority for risk assessors. Dr Andrew Coburn at RMS said: "Terrorism is a very different type of peril to other natural hazards. The international insurance industry has dealt with terrorism risk since the 1970s, but the advent of jihadist terrorism and the massive loss caused in the attack of 9/11 meant that insurers’ interest in managing terrorism risk grew substantially from then on."
He added that one of the biggest problems previously in modelling terrorism risk was "the limited amount of historical information about the nature of jihadist terrorism risk – the likely frequency and severity of losses, and the geography and patterns of loss that would be most likely." However, with seven years of post-9/11 experience, Dr Coburn explains that the current catastrophe models of terrorism risk, such as RMS' 2008 update, "can be shown to be good representations of the patterns of targets and attack modes consistently preferred by jihadist terrorist groups over the past several years."
On publishing the UK strategy, home secretary Jacqui Smith said: "This new guidance offers all those working in our local communities advice and support on how to turn the government's Prevent strategy into practical measures and solutions that will make a real difference". The task now is to put the measures into place and assess just what difference counter-terrorism at a grassroots level can make.
Lloyd’s research, Home-grown terrorism – what does it mean for business identifies extremism as a generational challenge. Young Muslims in the UK are vulnerable to al-Qaeda propaganda. Hopefully the Governments new deradicalisation strategy will operate on a long-term basis, and will not fall foul of changes in Government policy.
