Early interventions with young people in Wales to prevent radicalisation

This ethnographic study is interested in early interventions run with vulnerable young people in Wales, who may be susceptible to radicalisation. The early interventions of interest here fall beyond the formal, structured interventions within the government’s Prevent policy and Channel programme, and include workshops and one-to-one youth work designed to increase understanding and resilience around issues such as prejudice, racism and extremism. As radicalisation is generally identified as a process of socialisation or re-socialisation (Crenshaw, 2000; McHugh, 1966), interventions can be implemented at any time, including ‘upstream’, as preventative measures.

Through naturalistic observations of interventions and semi-structured interviews with key actors, the research aims to explore how interventions are delivered and organised. This includes which components/techniques are believed to be effective (though perceptions and measures of ‘effectiveness’ are themselves subjective). The study will also consider how the ‘problem’ of young people’s radicalisation is constructed by policymakers and practitioners.

Recent select publications:
Innes, M, Davies, B and Lowe, T. (2019) Counter-governance and ‘post-event prevent’: Regulating rumours, fake news and conspiracy theories in the aftermath of terror. International Journal of Crime, Law and Justice (in press). Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1756061619304549?via%3Dihub#