The hegemony of Prevent: turning counter-terrorism policing into common sense

Abstract

ABSTRACT The British government’s Prevent Duty puts an obligation on specified public sectors to “keep people from being drawn into terrorism”. The policy has been a point of contention within the public discourse, but interview data shows that there is a grudging consent for Prevent policing amongst the civilians implementing it. This article explores how this consent is manufactured and what this tells us about the changing nature of counter-terrorism policing in civic life. Using Gramsci’s concept of hegemony, this article will explain how Prevent is being transformed from a coercive statutory instrument into a common sense approach by the co-optation of civic norms. This enquiry is informed by the findings of interviews conducted with Prevent co-ordinators and employees of specified authorities in England. These interviews provide insights into how counter-terrorism monitoring is diffused within civic spaces and the nature of consent for this policing. Analysing these findings through a Gramscian lens explains how Prevent is normalised as a civic duty. It also helps chart a course for this hegemonic regime, which is moving beyond specific sectors towards a community of counter-terrorism citizens conducting surveillance as common sense practice.