The British State ‘Security Syndrome’ and Muslim Diversity: Challenges for Liberal Democracy in the Age of Terror

Bonino, Stefano (2016) The British State ‘Security Syndrome’ and Muslim Diversity: Challenges for Liberal Democracy in the Age of Terror. Contemporary Islam, 10 (2). pp. 1-25. ISSN 1872-0226

[img]
Preview
Text (Article)
Bonino_British State security syndrome.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.

Download (530kB) | Preview
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11562-016-0356-4

Abstract

This paper explores the securitisation of British Muslims within a global context in which tensions are reignited by the threat that Islamist terrorism, and Islam more generally, are considered to pose to the West. While Western involvement in Muslim-majority countries continues to fuel the idea of a ‘clash of civilisations’, domestic responses to terrorism and extremism take forward its rhetoric. At the heart of 15 years of wide-ranging responses lies the state ‘security syndrome’. Operating through the paradigm of risk reduction, the British state has reasserted its primary role as the distributor of security in ways that move beyond the surgical targeting of violent Islamists and their supporters and instead risk impacting on Muslims qua Muslims. Counter-terrorism and anti-extremism notions and practices that conflate security risks and cultural threats signal that Great Britain is a liberal democracy that is yet to fully foster positive inter-community relations and achieve social cohesion.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Muslims, Great Britain, security, counter-terrorism, clash of civilisations
Subjects: L200 Politics
L300 Sociology
L400 Social Policy
Department: Faculties > Arts, Design and Social Sciences > Social Sciences
Depositing User: Stefano Bonino
Date Deposited: 05 Apr 2016 08:49
Last Modified: 01 Aug 2021 03:42
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/26496

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics