Power, governance, and coordination in the prevention of violent extremism and terrorism: towards multi-agency counterterrorism?

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ABSTRACT Multi-agency collaboration has been identified in previous studies as a key strategy for early intervention in violent extremism. However, little focus has captured the institutional framework that allows or impedes cooperation in counterterrorism and P/CVE. This article investigates the reasons behind the differences in the approach to counterterrorism and P/CVE among security, social, and health workers in France and Spain. While the topic is extensively studied in some countries, in others, like the relevant cases of France and Spain, the institutional development and diffusion process of multi-agency collaboration remains unclear. The article highlights how two countries that were not aligned with multi-agency collaboration implemented these policies and institutional structuring in P/CVE and counterterrorism. In this context, two distinct approaches to countering violence (security and social-health logic) emerge. However, security measures are still predominant. Finally, the article identifies trust and interpersonal relations as crucial factors in developing preventive counterterrorism and multi-agency collaboration. Here, we can include the role played by academia and RAN in the diffusion from the EU and other countries to France and Spain. In these and other institutionalised spaces, the different actors share visions, and problems, and create professional relationships beyond the specific meeting and over time.