Samenvatting

Terrorism and the threat of terrorist attacks is not a new phenomenon to Western Europe. The United Kingdom and its approach in confronting radical Islam heavily influences the approach of other EU countries, such as the Netherlands, take towards terrorism. Given the significant link between these two countries, the research question of this paper, “How are the governments of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands countering Islamist radicalization? And what are the similarities and differences between the approaches taken by the countries?”, aims to find out how the governments of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands are countering Islamist radicalization with the. Furthermore, it desires to know the similarities and differences between the approaches taken by the countries. “Prevent” is one of the more controversial aspects of the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy program in order to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Its Dutch counterpart, The Information House, encourages teachers, police officers, social workers, local activists, parole officers, and others to notice and report signs of “radicalization”.
There are far more similarities, than differences between UK and Dutch counter-radicalization policies. Both the United Kingdom and the Netherlands view themselves as increasingly under threat from Islamist radicalization, which they trace, in part to an unwillingness or inability on the part of the Muslims in their communities to integrate and to the acceptance of extreme ideology which reject so called “British values” or “Dutch values” of equality, freedom of religion, speech, etc. I believe one of the main problems with both Dutch and UK radicalization strategies is that they are being undergirded by the flawed theory of radicalization and by overly broad generalizations of what constitutes extremism. While both Dutch and UK authorities claim to understand that radicalization is not a linear process and that the reasons people are drawn to terrorism and terrorist groups are varied, in practice, they demonstrate an understanding of radicalization that implies that if an individual experiences certain negative outcomes and expresses certain points of views, then this is definitive proof that they are on the path to radicalization. Current Dutch and UK counter-terrorism measures paint terrorism as a predominately “Muslim” problem, although in speeches politicians and security and intelligence leaders are quick to point out that terrorism is not a uniquely Muslim problem The amount of resources spent on dealing with Islamist radicalization, however, seems to contradict such assurances.