UK Counter-Terrorism and Multiple and Complex Needs: A Policy-Informed Discourse Analysis

Of the four work strands of UK counter-terrorism (CT), Prevent and Pursue are directed towards stopping individuals from becoming involved in terrorism, and investigating and prosecuting those suspected of terrorist crimes. Over the past few years, both these two work strands of UK CT seem to have captured more individuals with Multiple and Complex Needs (MCN), especially people of young age and with mental health issues. This article describes key UK CT discourse on the terrorist threat landscape and its proposed countermeasures, with particular regard to the role of MCN. It considers the extent to which discourse on the threat and set-up of UK CT seems to correspond to academic research, media reporting and other open sources—and is interested in whether the apparent increase of MCN in UK CT (only) reflect real-life developments in the threat landscape, or whether the current structure of UK CT may disproportionately draw in individuals with MCN. It finds that while accurately capturing some recent trends, UK CT discourse overall reifies largely outdated ideas of the role of ideational radicalisation and of there being a sharp distinction between the categories of vulnerability and risk. It also suggests that the emphasis of UK CT seems to increasingly be on the category of risk and on the logic of Pursue—also when MCN are involved—rather than proposing a multifaceted approach to the ever-changing complexity of the threat of terrorism.