This project is funded by a European Research Council grant (2020-25).

It is run by a group of Warwick academics, led by Professor Charlotte Heath-Kelly, who are researching the origins of P/CVE (preventing/countering violent extremism) programs, their proliferation across Europe, and how they blur the boundaries between counterterrorism and social policy. We are particularly interested in the discourse of 'vulnerability' which accompanies P/CVE.

This frames socio-economically disadvantaged persons as 'at risk' of becoming radicalised. It blurs the boundaries between policing and the care sectors - involving each in the business of the other. We are studying whether this crossover is, as many have argued, a consequence of neoliberal restructuring of the welfare state - or whether the move to deploy counterterrorism through local authority organisations is an effect of other forces.

Find out more about the project