Moving Target UK–GCC Relations and the Politics of ‘Extremism’

Extremism Policy Politics Terrorism

Fifteen years after the United States declared a ‘war on terror’, the Western policy agenda has moved on to a broader focus on countering ‘extremism’. But just as ‘terrorism’ has long been an internationally contested notion, there is even less consensus on what defines extremism – and much less still on the increasingly central notion of ‘non-violent extremism’. In the current international political context, the debate concerning extremism has centred on violent Islamist extremism, exemplified by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda (AQ), both recognized internationally as terrorist organizations.