PREVENT: creating “radicals” to strengthen anti-Muslim narratives

“She is of good behaviour and a good Muslim. Against this background, I accept on the evidence before me that this defendant gathered together the contents of the SD card in order to explore and understand the charges which her brothers faced. There is no evidence that she was motivated by their ideology or was preparing to follow them.” The judge in the case of Umm Ahmed clarified to the court that she had not been involved in illegality or had any intention to pose a threat to the UK. Despite this recognition, he sentenced Begum to a 12-month prison term for possessing the magazine Inspire which she had been reading to understand her charged brother’s case. What is unknown is the story of how Umm Ahmed was subjected to a deradicalisation programme, under the auspices of PREVENT and CHANNEL, without any indication of actual involvement in terrorism. The use of deradicalisation narratives in schools, universities and hospitals has led to the criminalisation of large sections of the various Muslim communities in the UK. Based on our experience of cases such as Umm Ahmed, we hope to present a view of how an aggressive anti-Muslim narrative that is based on assumptions subverts the political expression/identity of individuals by turning them into potential threats. The advocacy group CAGE has been working with Umm Ahmed in order to highlight the abuse of the terrorism narrative in her case, but also to understand the actual implementation of PREVENT and CHANNEL beyond their conceptual promotion as a safeguarding tool. By understanding the everyday interactions with PREVENT, a picture can be formed of the way that a false presentation of narratives can lead to a person becoming an “extremist” or “terrorist”, while the truth may lie in a completely alternative place.     

Sisters in Terrorism? Exploding Stereotypes

New Terrorism is increasingly deploying women in the field as combatants. Female suicide bombers have proven to be highly effective, precisely because of the persistence of gender stereotypes in target societies. Women terrorists convey a powerful message of political seriousness, heighten the sense of intimidation and threat, and attract greater mass media attention—all key strategic objectives of New Terrorism. Gender stereotypes are also at work in explanations for women's recourse to terrorist activism. Such stereotypes simplify complex motivations and either overvalue or undervalue women's agency. The net result of this stereotyping is that women end up worse off individually and collectively, domestically and internationally. The lives of women in geopolitical hotspots have become more precarious, and the valorization of women terrorists undermines the quest for women's emancipation in fundamentalist cultures. In Western democracies, paternalistic outrage at women's subordination under fundamentalist regimes may have initially served as a dubious justification for military and other interventions, but the involvement of women in terrorist activism now risks reinforcing an even more dangerous “clash of civilizations” thinking. One effect is to undermine the demands for greater gender equality in Western democracies as well as indirectly support the war on women political agenda domestically.     

法律职业教育应用型人才培养模式研究

高等职业教育植根于特定国家的社会和经济制度之中,其发展和人才培养模式也具有不同的特点。各国经历了关于职业人才培养模式的长期探索,对其具有的成功性、示范性、推广性等要素的理解已形成共识,这为我们借鉴＂他山之石＂提供了可能。     

党建理论研究的问题意识

问题是科学研究的引擎,缺乏问题意识的研究是没有生命力的低水平重复,党建理论研究因其与意识形态、党的权威和政策方针等等紧密关联,问题意识就显得尤其重要。批判性、现实性和超越性,是强化党建理论研究问题意识的重要原则和路径。当前党建理论研究的问题应该以中国的现实场景为基础进行展开。秉持批判的精神,怀抱对于中华民族未来命运的关切,关照当下中国的社会现实,深入挖掘党的建设应予深切关注的问题,将使党建理论研究切实走向科学而又活力迸发的正确轨道。     

浅谈新时期我国公安机关境外追逃问题

随着国际交往的密切,给犯罪分子逃往境外,利用国境的屏障逃避打击创造了的便利条件,从而使公安机关的境外追逃工作受各种条件的制约,面临严峻的挑战。研究切实可行的境外追逃理论和采取行之有效的追逃措施,让境外追逃工作走上科学化、信息化的良性轨道是公安机关当前和今后工作的主要方向。     

走向跨界的妇女学和妇女史研究——杜芳琴先生学术贡献述略

自20世纪80年代中期至今,杜芳琴先生在中国古代妇女/性别史、妇女学理论的本土探索与学科建设等领域进行了广泛深入的研究,取得了丰硕成果。考察杜芳琴先生的学术贡献,不仅可以窥见中国女性学者从事学术研究的艰辛、执着与收获,也可窥探中国大陆妇女/性别史研究发展的历程,对于总结妇女/性别史研究中的利弊得失、展望妇女/性别史研究的未来也不无裨益。     

德国反洗钱刑事立法述评与启示

为了遏制和打击洗钱活动,德国通过在刑法典中新增洗钱罪和多次的修订,将洗钱行为犯罪化,逐步建立起反洗钱和恐怖融资的刑事法律体系,并在一定程度上具有自己的独特之处。在国际社会共同打击洗钱活动和我国面临严峻洗钱形势的背景下,有必要介绍德国反洗钱刑事立法的成功经验,这对于完善我国的反洗钱法律制度具有借鉴意义。     

侦查学学科定位问题再探——兼论侦查主体改革之思路

随着《学位授予和人才培养学科目录》的出台,沉寂多时的侦查学学科定位(或日属性)问题再次引发热论.侦查学到底归属于谁?众说纷纭.但主要焦点还是集中在是属于法学还是属于公安学上.将侦查学定位于“本质上属于公安学,但仍具有某些法学的特性”,似乎能够更好地解决争议、息纷止争,也更能体现侦查学学科独有的特性.正因如此,它能够为侦查主体的改革等一系列问题提供思路,使其朝着科学化和法治化方向迈进.     

MAINTAINING A UNITARY STATE: COUNTER-TERRORISM,SEPARATISM, AND EXTREMISM IN XINJIANG AND CHINA

This essay reviews the history of Uighur related terrorism in Xinjiang as well as elsewhere in China and discusses the political motivations and effectiveness of the Chinese government in suppressing terrorism. The essay assesses both the motivations of the Uighurs engaged in terrorism, as well as the motivations for counter terrorist by the Chinese authorities. A key objective of the essay is to determine what are the political and other reasons that drive the Chinese government’s counter terrorism strategy and tactics and whether these have been effective or counter-productive. The essay assesses the counter terrorism strategy of the Chinese government in Xinjiang Province and across China, the political motivations for the strategy, the impact and success or otherwise. The essay discusses if the government is combatting terrorism, or separatism, or extremism, the confusion of these terms, and whether this has had any impact on the effectiveness of counter terrorism.     

PAKISTAN’S CRISIS OF GOVERNANCE AND THE RESURGENCE OF TERRORIST VIOLENCE SINCE AUGUST 2016

Fifteen years since joining the US-led anti-terrorism coalition, Pakistan’s response to the challenges of terroristic violence and extremist indoctrination and propaganda remain military-centric and kinetic. Since August 2016, after a brief lull, Pakistan has experienced a resurgence of terrorist activity and violence that has struck all of its provinces and placed its capital on high alert. The re-escalation in the level of terrorist violence began with the August 8, 2016, attacks in Quetta, which left over 70 dead and more than 100 injured. The lack of response from the provincial and federal governments to this carnage, led the Supreme Court of Pakistan to exercise its authority under Article 184(3) of the Constitution and establish an Inquiry Commission to examine the state of the investigation and report on the challenges faced in the struggle against terrorism and extremism. This inquiry assumed the form and substance of an audit of the performance of Pakistan’s institutions and exposed the link between the country’s crisis of governance and its incoherent response to terrorism and extremism at all levels of government. The implications of the inquiry report are both broad and deep, and reveal that Pakistan’s trajectory remains that of civilian administrative breakdown and institutional exhaustion. This indicates that Pakistan’s civilian-military balance continues to shift in structural terms in favour of the latter and that beneath a veneer of constitutional democracy, the arbitrary, unwise, and inefficient, exercise of power by the political class continues to hollow out the country’s administrative institutions.