PhD Thesis by Richard McNeil-Willson
This project aims to answer the following research question: How has the development of a securit... more This project aims to answer the following research question: How has the development of a securitised lens impacted on Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain and Denmark? To achieve this, it will explore the construction of a securitised lens, the impact of securitisation processes and the difference between responses within Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) in Britain and Denmark through the following three sub-questions: 1. How do we know securitisation is an issue for Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain and Denmark? 2. How can we understand securitisation as creating patterns of repression through perception? and 3. What are the long-term effects of this experience of perceived repression in the different contexts? It aims to do this through an approach that brings together the two theoretical discussions of social movement theories and securitisation theories through the nexus of repression. This enables the project to understand patterns of repression and mobilisation response, as well as respond to the limitations of both theoretical facets – social movement theory’s difficulty in understanding subtler, long-term and multi-spatial forms of repressions and securitisation theory’s disposition to assume power only travels downwards, from monolithic repressor to repressed, without an interactive response amongst all actors.
The project took an empirical approach grounded in interaction with members, ex-members and those who operate in and around security – something considered particularly important in the study of an organisation that is semi-clandestine in its operation. This included attendance at demonstrations, public talks, da’wah stalls, Friday prayers and mosques talks, as well as halaqat (private study circles), social events, meetings at coffee shops, family meals, weddings and even participation in football practice, with fieldwork conducted between 2015 and 2018. Conceptually, the thesis is designed to fill gaps in contemporary study of the Islamic Activist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir, updating the literature on an organisation that study has largely neglected in recent years but has become more relevant with the addition of discourse about ‘extremism’ in European counterterror. However, this thesis aims to offer a basic framework not just for understanding Hizb ut-Tahrir or even Islamic Activism, but for any forms of activism that are problematised under the increasing rubric of ‘extremism’, and explore how different groups from diverse movements change tactics in response to the threat or perception of repression by policies, practices or policing under the counterterror lens.
It suggests the following findings: 1. Increased securitisation has been instrumental in the decline of HT in Britain and Denmark; 2. However, securitisation has had different effects in the UK than in Denmark, leading to adaption and institutionalisation in the British context and a continuation of contention in the Danish context; and 3. This is because different perceptions of repression have been created by the use of different securitising mechanisms, suggesting that the concept of counterterror securitisation needs to be reconsidered as a more interactive and diversified process, to account for the quanta of securitisation and mobilisation responses produced.
Books by Richard McNeil-Willson
Routledge, 2022
This Handbook brings together research conducted throughout Europe and the world, to analyse vari... more This Handbook brings together research conducted throughout Europe and the world, to analyse various articulations of violent extremism and consider the impact that such groups and networks have had on the wellbeing of communities and societies. The Handbook will examine different theories, factors and national case studies of extremism, polarisation and societal fragmentation, drilling deep into national examples to map trends across Europe, North America and Australasia and allow for regional and state-level comparative analysis. It will also offer a thorough exploration of resilience – a recent addition to counter-extremism policy and practice – to consider how it has come to play an increasingly central role in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) and the problems, implications and impacts of these approaches.
Papers by Richard McNeil-Willson
Policy & Internet, Nov 30, 2023
The regulation of violent right‐wing extremist online content in the European Union is facing a c... more The regulation of violent right‐wing extremist online content in the European Union is facing a conundrum. On the one hand, pressure to respond to concern over violent right‐wing extremism (or VRWE, a term used by the European Union to refer to ‘far right’) has led to a push to develop a coherent European‐wide response. On the one hand, this has led to a watering down or ‘loosening’ of the concept and implementation, to come to policy agreements between Member States. On the other hand, we have also seen a broadening and expansion of key concepts around VRWE to include more online practices. We argue that this combination of ‘loosening’ the definition of far right, whilst simultaneously ‘broadening’ what constitutes far‐right content, risks the securitisation of vast online practices ‐ muddying the means for developing coherent and effective responses to VRWE in online spheres. This paper aims to explore the framing and securitisation of violent right‐wing extremist content, by tracking the discursive construction of European content moderation policy tools over time.
CRC Press eBooks, Sep 26, 2023
Whilst France has attempted to take the lead internationally in responding to terrorism financing... more Whilst France has attempted to take the lead internationally in responding to terrorism financing operations, questions and concerns remain over the efficacy of its approach, with the policy based on problematic assumption surrounding the supposed crime-terrorism-finance nexus. Recent French governments have looked increasingly to focus on building policy that tackles terrorism financing, following the Paris attacks of 2015. France's presidency of the G7 in 2019 saw terrorist finance made one of three central policy pillars, resulting in greater support of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the developent of new binding Security Council Resolutions, as well as several arrests and intictments. However, much of the approaches are focussed on three areas - virtual cirrencies and online fraud; illegal networks and charities; and people trafficking and kidnapping - which assume that these tactics are central to the perpetration of terrorist attacks globally by groups like al-Qaeda and Islamic State. Evidence for these assumptions, however, has turned out to be thin, with such groups tending to not have the capacity for online use of virtual currencies, raise and spend funds within internal borders or centralised points of operation, and are reliant on highly localised means of funding. As such, the efficacy of these approaches is highly questionable, potentially acting to further entrench unfounded links between crime and terrorism, and ultimately driving elements of broader counter policy that risk being both Islamophobic and ineffective.
The Palgrave Handbook of Gendered Islamophobia, 2024
There are several concerns about the worldwide impact of Islamophobia. This chapter presents a co... more There are several concerns about the worldwide impact of Islamophobia. This chapter presents a comparative analysis of gendered Islamophobia in France and the Netherlands. Both nations have recently implemented niqab restrictions in the context of a Global War on Terror culture that has established itself in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, as well as the cumulative impact of restrictive de-radicalisation programmes. Based on a theoretical and conceptual assessment of the gendered nature of Western European Islamophobia, this chapter contends that women’s headscarves have been weaponised as a political tool in the context of an increasing shift to the political right, with populist politicians exploiting fears and misunderstandings about Islam and Muslims. These are bolstered by the actions of certain individuals operating in institutions such as the media, politics, and academia who are contributing to the normalisation of Islamophobia. Securitisation and Islamophobia work in tandem to further isolate and alienate Muslim minority women in general, but especially those with visible markers of difference displayed through their external dress—a group that embodies the ‘others’ in secular, liberal democracies.
Policy and Internet, 2023
The regulation of violent right‐wing extremist online content in the European Union is facing a c... more The regulation of violent right‐wing extremist online content in the European Union is facing a conundrum. On the one hand, pressure to respond to concern over violent right‐wing extremism (or VRWE, a term used by the European Union to refer to ‘far right’) has led to a push to develop a coherent European‐wide response. On the one hand, this has
led to a watering down or ‘loosening’ of the concept and implementation, to come to policy agreements between Member States. On the other hand, we have also seen a broadening and expansion of key concepts around VRWE to include more online practices. We argue that this combination of ‘loosening’ the definition of far right, whilst simultaneously ‘broadening’ what constitutes far‐right content, risks the securitisation of vast online practices ‐ muddying the means for developing coherent and effective responses to VRWE in online spheres. This paper aims to explore the framing and securitisation of violent right‐wing extremist content, by tracking the discursive construction of European content moderation policy tools over time.
Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 2017
This chapter explores the development of Danish counterterror legislation since 2001, with partic... more This chapter explores the development of Danish counterterror legislation since 2001, with particular reference to the creation and implementation of the Aarhus (Arhus) model. It aims to offer an overview of its formation, as well as exploring how such a model offers what has been termed a more holistic and ‘joined up’ approach to concerns about radicalization, particularly in light of recent developments in Syria and Iraq with the rise of Islamic State and the foreign-fighter phenomenon. It furthermore aims to deconstruct contemporary counterterror discourse and legislation in Denmark through the critical application of the twin concepts of trust and oppression, so as to assess its potential impact on those deemed ‘radical’, as well as on wider, minority communities.
Routledge eBooks, May 25, 2023
Routledge eBooks, May 25, 2023
Routledge eBooks, May 25, 2023
Intersections, 2021
This article examines how repression is being wielded by the Russian Federation in Crimea against... more This article examines how repression is being wielded by the Russian Federation in Crimea against Muslim Tatar communities under the guise of countering terrorism and violent extremism, and how non-violent resistance and grassroots resilience is being fostered as a means of countering securitisation. The case demonstrates how language developed within a Western security context are co-opted by authoritarian actors, how Islamic activist groups engage in activities that can be framed as 'resilience-building' through the language of human rights, freedom of press and democracy, and the issues raised by applying the term 'resilience' within a counterterrorism context-both in illiberal and liberal settings. The article finds that techniques comparable to concepts of resilience-building are being conducted in an illiberal setting by communities in response to, and as a counter against highly repressive articulations of counterterrorism. It also suggests that the term 'resilience' is problematic in this context, failing to adequately account for-and often actively obscuring-organisational activism of communities and their interaction with the political context. This offers an understanding of community-led responses against counterterrorism and counter-extremism as a tool of repression as well as examining the credibility of terms such as 'resilience' within CVE in Crimea and elsewhere.
Routledge eBooks, Mar 21, 2023
This paper examines various framing processes have been developed by Far Right groups specificall... more This paper examines various framing processes have been developed by Far Right groups specifically in response to the global health crisis brought about by the spread of COVID-19. Through an examination of statements by six Identitarian and National Socialist movement organisations issued over a two month period from late February to late April 2020 on the open source platform Telegram, six 'crisis frames' were identified which extended central Far Right ideological ideas and cast COVID-19 as directly linked to concepts of migration, globalisation, governance, liberty, resilience and conspiracy. As well as identifying the crisis frames used by Far Right, this paper found that these Far Right groups emphasised engagement in activity designed to develop community resilience and-in contrast to initial commentary by analysts-conspiracy theories and practices of misinformation were largely not used. These findings suggest that the early stages of the COVID crisis has seen a shift by certain Far Right groups not towards practices of encouraging violent contention but rather using propaganda to emphasise their contribution in supporting the family unit, communities and the nation, against the failures of authorities in dealing with the virus. This paper represents an early foray into understanding the development of contemporary 'crisis frames' within the Far Right, highlighting the interactive processes that take place between Far Right groups, global events and authorities.
Routledge Handbook of Violent Extremism and Resilience
Routledge eBooks, May 25, 2023
Countering Terrorist and Criminal Financing, 2023
Whilst France has attempted to take the lead internationally in responding to terrorism financing... more Whilst France has attempted to take the lead internationally in responding to terrorism financing operations, questions and concerns remain over the efficacy of its approach, with the policy based on problematic assumption surrounding the supposed crime-terrorism-finance nexus. Recent French governments have looked increasingly to focus on building policy that tackles terrorism financing, following the Paris attacks of 2015. France's presidency of the G7 in 2019 saw terrorist finance made one of three central policy pillars, resulting in greater support of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the developent of new binding Security Council Resolutions, as well as several arrests and intictments. However, much of the approaches are focussed on three areas - virtual cirrencies and online fraud; illegal networks and charities; and people trafficking and kidnapping - which assume that these tactics are central to the perpetration of terrorist attacks globally by groups like al-Qaeda and Islamic State. Evidence for these assumptions, however, has turned out to be thin, with such groups tending to not have the capacity for online use of virtual currencies, raise and spend funds within internal borders or centralised points of operation, and are reliant on highly localised means of funding. As such, the efficacy of these approaches is highly questionable, potentially acting to further entrench unfounded links between crime and terrorism, and ultimately driving elements of broader counter policy that risk being both Islamophobic and ineffective.
Critical Muslim, 2023
It has been over two decades since the 9/11 attacks, which formally
marked the start of the long... more It has been over two decades since the 9/11 attacks, which formally
marked the start of the long War on Terror. The invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq by the US-led Western coalition has left a long-lasting legacy, not just in the form of continued regional destabilisation but in a vast, sprawling set of structures, policies, and interests that uphold a burgeoning counterterror industry across the globe. Despite the massive upheaval wrought on both the international political order and local communities under the auspices of countering terrorism and the on-going ruptures this has caused on local levels, the language of the War on Terror has changed and disappeared from contemporary political parlance. Furthermore, the military operations that characterised the opening stages of the War on Terror have long since finished or been lost. However, has the long War on Terror ended? If so, what marked its end? If not, what would such an ending look like in practise? And where do we stand with regards to the term War on Terror?
European Islamophobia Report 2021, 2022
By gathering 35 local scholars, experts, and civil society activists specialised in racism and h... more By gathering 35 local scholars, experts, and civil society activists specialised in racism and human rights, the seventh edition of the European Islamophobia Report addresses a globally important issue. All 27 country reports included in this year’s annual report follow a unique structure that invites comparison between countries and across the years since this report series was first established in 2015. It allows for selected readings on a particular topic such as politics, employment, or education with regard to Islamophobia across Europe.
The present report investigates in detail the underlying dynamics that directly or indirectly contribute to the rise of anti-Muslim racism in Europe. This extends from Islamophobic statements spread in national media to laws and policies that restrain the fundamental rights of European Muslim citizens and ultimately threaten the whole of society. As a result, the European Islamophobia Report 2021 discusses the impact of anti-Muslim racism on human rights such as freedom of association, freedom of speech, and religious freedom, and the state of law in Europe.
This seventh edition of our report continues to show the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Islamophobia, and how anti-Muslim legislation and measures in states like Austria and France have developed and been opposed by civil society. The 27 country reports demonstrate the ways in which governments, political parties, and media participate and counteract the reproduction of discourses that put the fundamental rights of European citizens in jeopardy.
This compendium of fact-based and insights and practical data aims to provide European policymakers, institutions, and NGOs with recommendations on how to tackle anti-Muslim racism in Europe systematically and with success.
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PhD Thesis by Richard McNeil-Willson
The project took an empirical approach grounded in interaction with members, ex-members and those who operate in and around security – something considered particularly important in the study of an organisation that is semi-clandestine in its operation. This included attendance at demonstrations, public talks, da’wah stalls, Friday prayers and mosques talks, as well as halaqat (private study circles), social events, meetings at coffee shops, family meals, weddings and even participation in football practice, with fieldwork conducted between 2015 and 2018. Conceptually, the thesis is designed to fill gaps in contemporary study of the Islamic Activist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir, updating the literature on an organisation that study has largely neglected in recent years but has become more relevant with the addition of discourse about ‘extremism’ in European counterterror. However, this thesis aims to offer a basic framework not just for understanding Hizb ut-Tahrir or even Islamic Activism, but for any forms of activism that are problematised under the increasing rubric of ‘extremism’, and explore how different groups from diverse movements change tactics in response to the threat or perception of repression by policies, practices or policing under the counterterror lens.
It suggests the following findings: 1. Increased securitisation has been instrumental in the decline of HT in Britain and Denmark; 2. However, securitisation has had different effects in the UK than in Denmark, leading to adaption and institutionalisation in the British context and a continuation of contention in the Danish context; and 3. This is because different perceptions of repression have been created by the use of different securitising mechanisms, suggesting that the concept of counterterror securitisation needs to be reconsidered as a more interactive and diversified process, to account for the quanta of securitisation and mobilisation responses produced.
Books by Richard McNeil-Willson
Papers by Richard McNeil-Willson
led to a watering down or ‘loosening’ of the concept and implementation, to come to policy agreements between Member States. On the other hand, we have also seen a broadening and expansion of key concepts around VRWE to include more online practices. We argue that this combination of ‘loosening’ the definition of far right, whilst simultaneously ‘broadening’ what constitutes far‐right content, risks the securitisation of vast online practices ‐ muddying the means for developing coherent and effective responses to VRWE in online spheres. This paper aims to explore the framing and securitisation of violent right‐wing extremist content, by tracking the discursive construction of European content moderation policy tools over time.
marked the start of the long War on Terror. The invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq by the US-led Western coalition has left a long-lasting legacy, not just in the form of continued regional destabilisation but in a vast, sprawling set of structures, policies, and interests that uphold a burgeoning counterterror industry across the globe. Despite the massive upheaval wrought on both the international political order and local communities under the auspices of countering terrorism and the on-going ruptures this has caused on local levels, the language of the War on Terror has changed and disappeared from contemporary political parlance. Furthermore, the military operations that characterised the opening stages of the War on Terror have long since finished or been lost. However, has the long War on Terror ended? If so, what marked its end? If not, what would such an ending look like in practise? And where do we stand with regards to the term War on Terror?
The present report investigates in detail the underlying dynamics that directly or indirectly contribute to the rise of anti-Muslim racism in Europe. This extends from Islamophobic statements spread in national media to laws and policies that restrain the fundamental rights of European Muslim citizens and ultimately threaten the whole of society. As a result, the European Islamophobia Report 2021 discusses the impact of anti-Muslim racism on human rights such as freedom of association, freedom of speech, and religious freedom, and the state of law in Europe.
This seventh edition of our report continues to show the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Islamophobia, and how anti-Muslim legislation and measures in states like Austria and France have developed and been opposed by civil society. The 27 country reports demonstrate the ways in which governments, political parties, and media participate and counteract the reproduction of discourses that put the fundamental rights of European citizens in jeopardy.
This compendium of fact-based and insights and practical data aims to provide European policymakers, institutions, and NGOs with recommendations on how to tackle anti-Muslim racism in Europe systematically and with success.
The project took an empirical approach grounded in interaction with members, ex-members and those who operate in and around security – something considered particularly important in the study of an organisation that is semi-clandestine in its operation. This included attendance at demonstrations, public talks, da’wah stalls, Friday prayers and mosques talks, as well as halaqat (private study circles), social events, meetings at coffee shops, family meals, weddings and even participation in football practice, with fieldwork conducted between 2015 and 2018. Conceptually, the thesis is designed to fill gaps in contemporary study of the Islamic Activist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir, updating the literature on an organisation that study has largely neglected in recent years but has become more relevant with the addition of discourse about ‘extremism’ in European counterterror. However, this thesis aims to offer a basic framework not just for understanding Hizb ut-Tahrir or even Islamic Activism, but for any forms of activism that are problematised under the increasing rubric of ‘extremism’, and explore how different groups from diverse movements change tactics in response to the threat or perception of repression by policies, practices or policing under the counterterror lens.
It suggests the following findings: 1. Increased securitisation has been instrumental in the decline of HT in Britain and Denmark; 2. However, securitisation has had different effects in the UK than in Denmark, leading to adaption and institutionalisation in the British context and a continuation of contention in the Danish context; and 3. This is because different perceptions of repression have been created by the use of different securitising mechanisms, suggesting that the concept of counterterror securitisation needs to be reconsidered as a more interactive and diversified process, to account for the quanta of securitisation and mobilisation responses produced.
led to a watering down or ‘loosening’ of the concept and implementation, to come to policy agreements between Member States. On the other hand, we have also seen a broadening and expansion of key concepts around VRWE to include more online practices. We argue that this combination of ‘loosening’ the definition of far right, whilst simultaneously ‘broadening’ what constitutes far‐right content, risks the securitisation of vast online practices ‐ muddying the means for developing coherent and effective responses to VRWE in online spheres. This paper aims to explore the framing and securitisation of violent right‐wing extremist content, by tracking the discursive construction of European content moderation policy tools over time.
marked the start of the long War on Terror. The invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq by the US-led Western coalition has left a long-lasting legacy, not just in the form of continued regional destabilisation but in a vast, sprawling set of structures, policies, and interests that uphold a burgeoning counterterror industry across the globe. Despite the massive upheaval wrought on both the international political order and local communities under the auspices of countering terrorism and the on-going ruptures this has caused on local levels, the language of the War on Terror has changed and disappeared from contemporary political parlance. Furthermore, the military operations that characterised the opening stages of the War on Terror have long since finished or been lost. However, has the long War on Terror ended? If so, what marked its end? If not, what would such an ending look like in practise? And where do we stand with regards to the term War on Terror?
The present report investigates in detail the underlying dynamics that directly or indirectly contribute to the rise of anti-Muslim racism in Europe. This extends from Islamophobic statements spread in national media to laws and policies that restrain the fundamental rights of European Muslim citizens and ultimately threaten the whole of society. As a result, the European Islamophobia Report 2021 discusses the impact of anti-Muslim racism on human rights such as freedom of association, freedom of speech, and religious freedom, and the state of law in Europe.
This seventh edition of our report continues to show the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Islamophobia, and how anti-Muslim legislation and measures in states like Austria and France have developed and been opposed by civil society. The 27 country reports demonstrate the ways in which governments, political parties, and media participate and counteract the reproduction of discourses that put the fundamental rights of European citizens in jeopardy.
This compendium of fact-based and insights and practical data aims to provide European policymakers, institutions, and NGOs with recommendations on how to tackle anti-Muslim racism in Europe systematically and with success.
Ultimately, the ban will likely cause more harm than good – to Muslim communities, to civil and democratic rights, and to counterterrorism itself – and is a likely indication that other non-violent organisations may soon come under the security lens. Its actioning should be understood in the context of a UK Government and a Conservative Party that is itself in decline, and a demonstration that proscription – and, indeed, most of the party’s counterterror policy – is a political act, often less focussed on preventing violence than it is on courting votes.