Why UK’s ‘Prevent’ programme doesn’t work

In 2015, a new statutory duty was placed upon universities across the UK: to remain vigilant to signs of extremism. A set of guidelines, dubbed “Prevent”, were introduced to oblige universities to carry out risk assessments on the chances of students being drawn into “extremism”, as well as to train staff on how to “challenge extremist ideas”. These punitive and excessive policy measures, imposed by the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act of 2015, are aiming to transform academics into counterterrorism practitioners.

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