Excavating the Challenges Faced by Practitioners Working to Prevent Mixed Forms of Extremism: Conflicts and the Conflicted

• In Event: EXTR8 Extremism in times of uncertainty

Abstract

Recent statistics reported by Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE) programmes across several European countries indicate a rise in ‘mixed’ forms of extremism. While the threat of Far-right and Islamist extremism is well understood, less is known about non-doctrinal types of composite extremism that may involve blends of militant, misogynistic, conspiracy theorist and incel beliefs.
Acknowledging the proliferation of emergent extremism, the UK’s counter-radicalisation programme Prevent recently reclassified the reporting category of ‘mixed, unstable and unclear’ ideology to ‘conflicted’, ostensibly to better differentiate between a melange of extremist ideologies that individuals may be engaging with and promoting.
Given that counter-radicalisation programmes were designed primarily to address doctrinal modes of extremism prescient at the time of inception, the growth of composite extremism presents tangible knowledge gaps and practical challenges for PVE practitioners, policy-makers and academics tasked with identifying drivers, assessing risk and harm reduction.
Illuminating these challenges, this paper presents qualitative interview data from a large-scale study focussing on extremism and radicalisation in contemporary Europe. Drawing on participant reflections and experiences, we elucidate key issues that working with and within PVE infrastructures designed in previous eras present for practitioners seeking to gain insight into and tackle the problem of composite extremism.

Authors

• Jacob Astley, University of Liverpool

• Gabe Mythen, University of Liverpool

• Laura Naegler, University of Liverpool