Countering International Terrorism: Tackling radicalisation

How does radicalisation occur?

Identifying the factors which may lead to radicalisation, and some of the arguments used to justify it, are important so that we can focus our responses in order to reduce the risk of terrorism. Of course, setting out these factors does not in any way imply that we accept their validity or that resorting to terrorist violence could ever be justified.

It is also important to see this as a two stage process. An alienated individual who has become highly radicalised is not necessarily a terrorist. Only a tiny minority of radicalised individuals actually cross over to become terrorists: by financing, lending facilities to, or encouraging active terrorists, or by actively participating in terrorist attacks.

There are a range of potential factors in radicalisation and no single factor predominates. It is likely the catalyst for any given individual becoming a terrorist will be a combination of different factors particular to that person.

Potentially radicalising factors include the development of a sense of grievance and injustice. As has already been noted, the terrorists' version of history and recent events is highly negative and partial in its interpretation of past interactions between Islam and the West.

• The process of globalisation, in particular over the past two decades, has had ramifications right across the world and in many countries the effect has been not just economic, but also political, social and cultural change on a significant scale. Given the impact on local ways of life, those already predisposed to be suspicious of the West can seek to portray these changes as a deliberate attempt to replace traditional structures with Western models, rather than as the consequence, for good and ill, of modernisation.
  
• Alongside this is often a simplistic, but virulent anti-Westernism. The presence of Western interests, and sometimes military forces, in Muslim countries - even though this is at the request and with the permission of a country's government - is seen by some as an affront and a source of shame.
  
• Also some argue that the West does not apply consistent standards in its international behaviour.Conflicts such as Bosnia and Chechnya are cited, where Muslims have been the victims of violence, and it is argued that the Western nations have failed to act quickly or effectively enough to protect them, ignoring many positive interventions ('the UK support for Muslims across the world' boxes below). In particular, this applies to perceptions of relations with Israel and the approach to the Middle-East Peace Process, where the UK is actively committed to a two-state solution, with a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.
  
• Specific events - for example, the Coalition action to restore sovereignty in Kuwait, the UN authorised actions in Afghanistan to remove the Al Qa'ida terrorist organisation and the Taliban government sponsoring it and then restore stability there, and US and UK action in Iraq to remove a serious threat to international security and subsequently to promote a democratic and pluralist government - are sometimes portrayed as attacks on Islam itself, regardless of the actual rationale for the action. Media coverage of isolated and unacceptable incidents involving Western forces in Muslim countries, where individuals fail to live up to the standards we have set ourselves in the treatment of prisoners and civilians, may also be used to convince susceptible individuals that the West is antipathetic to Islam.

Another potential factor is a sense of personal alienation or community disadvantage, arising from socioeconomic factors such as discrimination, social exclusion, and lack of opportunity. While an individual may not be relatively disadvantaged, he or she may identify with others seen as less privileged; also different generations within the same family may have significantly different views about these issues. An important factor is exposure to radical ideas. This may come from reading radical literature on Islamic and other subjects or surfing the Internet (where many types of radical views are strongly promoted), but more often radicalisation seems to arise from local contacts and from peers. Exposure to a forceful and inspiring figure, already committed to extremism, can be important here. This person may be associated with a particular place (e.g. a mosque) or can be a national or international figure, seen on video or heard on tapes. Inspiration from a distance is important and there is evidence that the rise of the Internet, with its ability to connect people, to pass ideas between them, and then pass those ideas on to others has had a significant impact on the accessibility and flow of radical ideas.

None of these factors is conclusive and they are probably best viewed as considerations which may influence radicalisation.

Improving Opportunities, Strengthening Society

Many Muslims suffer high levels of disadvantage, and work has been underway for some time on addressing the inequalities they experience. The Government's broader race and community cohesion strategy 'Improving Opportunities, Strengthening Society' (IOSS) was published in January 2005 and outlined a cross-government response to reducing inequalities, particularly those associated with race and faith, and to increasing community cohesion.

In particular, the strategy includes actions being taken to help Muslims improve their educational performance, employment opportunities, and housing conditions.

There is now a cross-government steering group that considers the progress made against these initial indicators, and an annual report on progress against its actions is due to be published in Summer 2006. The Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund was announced through this initiative in January 2005. Its purpose is to help faith-based organisations to engage more effectively with the Government, with civil society, and with other faiths. To date total funding of £7.7 million has been shared between 588 organisations, £1.5 million of which went to Muslim organisations.

Commission on Integration and Cohesion

A Commission on Integration and Cohesion was announced in June 2006. It will consider how local areas themselves can play a role in forging cohesive and resilient communities, by:

• examining the issues that raise tensions between different groups in different areas, and that lead to segregation and conflict;
• suggesting how local community and political leadership can push further against perceived barriers to cohesion and integration;
• looking at how local communities themselves can be empowered to tackle extremist ideologies; and
• developing approaches that build local areas' own capacity to prevent problems, and ensure they have the structures in place to recover from periods of tension.

The Commission will report to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and will publish its findings in June 2007.

Supporting reform and modernisation

We have increased UK and international support for regionally-led reform in the Muslim world. This is important for many reasons, but will help address the political and socio-economic environment which extremists exploit. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) has supported over 150 projects in the Middle East and North Africa and 25 programmes in Afghanistan and other key countries in South and South East Asia and Africa to support the development of effective, accountable governments, democratic institutions and the promotion of human rights. For example:

• support for civil society anti-corruption initiatives;
• media reform projects across the Middle East;
• prison reform;
• education initiatives and partnerships with madrassas (traditional Islamic educational institutions that specialise in the transmission of religious education) on reform;
• legal reform (including training of lawyers on international human rights law; and
• exchanges between Christian and Muslim religious teaching institutions.

The FCO redirected the focus of its scholarship programme to reflect this work. In 2005/6, 119 candidates from Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) countries secured scholarships. The FCO also introduced a new fellowship scheme to offer mid-career professionals the opportunity of an intensive three-month course in the UK. In 2005, it welcomed 87 fellows from 43 countries on seven specially tailored Chevening Fellowship courses under the overall themes of 'Engaging with the Islamic World' and 'International Security and Governance' at UK universities - including: 'Islam and Governance' at the University of Birmingham, 'Participation of Women' at University College London and 'Government Relations with NGOs and civil society' at the University of Glasgow. So far in 2006, 88 fellows have come on the same seven courses.

More than 30 countries receiving UK development assistance have sizeable Muslim populations. Some of our largest bilateral development programmes are focussed on predominantly Islamic countries, for example in 2004/5 we provided £122 million in Bangladesh; £72 million in Afghanistan; and £56 million in Pakistan. The Department for International Development (DfID) contributes to modernisation through working on improving governance, including anti-corruption, reform of security services and justice systems, reform of education systems, and laws on private sector development in order to help create educational and employment opportunities for disaffected youths.

Legislation

The Terrorism Act 2006 made it a criminal offence directly or indirectly to encourage the commission, preparation, or instigation of acts of terrorism or to disseminate terrorist publications. This offence includes statements or publications that glorify terrorism.

The Terrorism Act 2000 made it illegal for certain terrorist groups to operate in the UK and extended proscription to include international terrorist groups, like Al Qaida. The Terrorism Act 2006 broadened the basis for proscribing organisations to include those that promote or encourage terrorism.

Unacceptable behaviours

The list of Unacceptable Behaviours published on 24 August 2005 sets out the behaviours likely to lead to an individual being excluded or deported from the UK. It covers any non-UK citizen who uses any medium, including:

• writing, producing, publishing or distributing material;
• public speaking including preaching;
• running a website; or
• using a position of responsibility such as teacher, community or youth leader;

to express views which:

• foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence in furtherance of particular beliefs;
• seek to provoke others to terrorist acts;
• foment other serious criminal activity or seek to provoke others to serious criminal acts; or
• foster hatred which might lead to inter-community violence in the UK.

Acting on unacceptable behaviours

Thirty six foreign nationals have been excluded since August last year on all grounds of unacceptable behaviour. There has been one decision in principle to deport and four other deportation cases on grounds of unacceptable behaviour are under consideration.

Prisons and radicalisation

In February 2006, the first national training event for HM Prison Service (HMPS) Imams was delivered as a result of direct intervention and support from the HMPS Police Advisors Section. They identified a need for specialist training for Imams, in order to support their daily work with all Muslim prisoners, including those imprisoned for terrorist-related charges. This national training event also led to the establishment of a partnership between the Police Advisors Section and the HMPS Muslim Adviser.

The Police Advisors Section has encouraged HMPS to develop strategies to identify and combat radicalisation within the prison population. The officers have been working with HMPS and other Police and community specialists to establish a unique mentoring programme, which seeks to identify those Muslim prisoners potentially susceptible to radicalisation or extremist views and which supports them upon their release from prison to integrate back into their local community.