Hold your friends close: countering radicalisation in Britain and America

Why does the UK spend counterterrorism funds on football competitions between police and young Muslim men? Why does the US use counterterrorism funds for debate programs for young Muslim Americans? Why do Indonesia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands and Australia spend similar funds on similar 'soft' counterextremism programs, and why have they started to do so only in recent years and in the absence of compelling evidence that they work?

In this talk Sarah Logan outlines the main themes of her new book, Hold your friends close: countering radicalisation in Britain and America, published with Oxford University Press. She traces the conceptual history of counterextremism programs in the USand the UK, reaching back to the US Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, and the UK Defence of the Realm Act of 1914.

She identifies themes of citizenship, integration and political community, arguing that counterextremism programs are novel policy responses which respond to fractures in political community wrought by transnationalism, or at least perceived to have been.

About the speaker

Sarah Logan is a Research Fellow/Lecturer in the Department Of International Relations at the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, ANU. Her primary research focus is the impact of technology, especially the internet, on International Relations. She is interested in how technology interacts with traditional understandings of statehood, power and agency. Sarah's previous research project concerned the history of counter extremism policy in the US and the UK.

Prior to joining the Department in 2019, Sarah was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales. She was awarded a PhD in International Relations from the Australian National University in 2014. Prior to joining academia, Sarah worked in government.

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This seminar presentation will be in-person only.

Image credit: 'Hold your friends close: countering radicalisation in Britain and America' book cover from OUP website