This thesis explores how Islamophobia is institutionalised in British universities. Focussing on Muslim students, this question is largely explored through empirical research using two case study universities. Each university was examined through key university functions; namely, 'ethnic' monitoring data under the Race Amendment (2000), union politics and welfare/observance provisions. The research involved semi-structured interviews with Muslim students who were in some way 'active' on campus, as well as university/union staff between 2004 and 2006. It also included some document analysis. It is argued that Islamophobia is institutionalised through its govermentalising function and is reflected in three key modes of 'managing' Muslim students; 'absence' (invisibility), 'presence' (hyper-visibility) and 'inclusion' (liberal multiculturalism). 'Absence' refers to the absence of Muslim students as a recognised collectivity within the formal structures of the university. Thus, it is argued, Muslim student concerns about racism fail to be formally registered and remain trivialised at anecdotal levels. 'Presence' refers to the hyper-visibility of Muslim students as a troublesome 'fundamentalist'/'extremist' cohort. This is exemplified through numerous historical and contemporary sector and state interventions, but also in student union politics. 'Inclusion' refers to liberal multicultural practices that regulate Muslim students. This is observed in equality practices (e.g. university provisions) in the university and the way they function to minoritise rather than equalise the status of Muslim students. What these modes of governance emphasise is the way Muslim students are the subject of and subjected to processes of racialised management, that is, regulation, discipline and normalisation. Each of these modes are explored through interviewee accounts/documents, and (in)formed by a recursive engagement with theories of racialised governmentality. It is argued that together, these modes of racialised governmentality signify the transgressive status of Muslims. They are also seen to reflect the broader political (in)visibility of Muslims in Britain and their awkward place within British multiculturalism. Influenced by 'de-colonial' thinking and activist-based research, the thesis has sought to develop a critique of dominant and racialised discourses about Muslim students in universities. This has involved the selective use of discursive techniques and a reflexive awareness of my own positioning with research. It has also involved cognizance of the way Muslim students and Muslim communities generally, have been perceived as 'suspect' and subject to increased securitisation. In the main however, the thesis has troubled the equality practices of universities and highlighted the way they are part of, not separate from, the problem of Islamophobia.

Departing from the increasing threat that organized hate groups and their manipulative practices pose to contemporary society, this thesis seeks to unravel the workings of digital hate culture and to highlight the potential of civil society-led counter initiatives to combat the spread of hatred online. The research is based on a twofold qualitative content analysis. In a first step, the intended practices of two opposing groups – an organized hate group (Reconquista Germanica) and an organized counter speech group (Reconquista Internet) – are analyzed based on a set of internal strategic communication documents. In a second step, three comment threads on Facebook are examined to illustrate the actualized practices of users spreading hate and users who counter-speak. By drawing on a four-dimensional framework, the analysis thereby considers how practices, discourses, power relations, and the technological affordances of Facebook shape this interplay. With theoretical reference to Mouffe’s (2005) work on the antagonistic nature of the political and today’s post-political Zeitgeist, this thesis ultimately comes to discuss whether such confrontations between exponents of digital hate culture and counter speakers must be understood as irrefutable antagonisms or if productive agonism can be fostered through a mutual understanding of one another as legitimate adversaries.What the analysis evinces is that the discussions carried out between the two opposing camps are highly moralized, resulting in an antagonistic battle between ‘good’ and ‘evil’ that interferes with the possibility for productive agonism. It is further shown that, in this post-political discussion climate, counter speech carries a crucial responsibility to conform to moral values and maintain professional and ethical standards to set itself apart from the harmful practices of digital hate culture. Otherwise, as the analysis indicates, counter efforts are likely to spur on destructive dynamics, further hardening the fronts between opposing positions that characterize today’s increasingly polarized societies.

Cette thèse porte sur la visibilité de groupes qualifiés d’extrémistes sur internet. Si plusieurs études ont décrit les différents usages des technologies numériques par des groupes radicaux et la manière dont internet serait un catalyseur de radicalisation, peu d’études ont cherché à analyser la relation constitutive entre un dispositif technique et des militants extrémistes. L’objectif de la thèse est de renouveler le modèle de la visibilité médiatisée de groupuscules qualifiés d’extrémistes, en tenant compte des reconfigurations mutuelles entre les plateformes numériques et le groupe militant. Sur le plan théorique, cette recherche se situe à l’intersection de la théorie de l’acteur-réseau, des software studies et des travaux de Lucy Suchman (2007) sur les dynamiques de reconfigurations mutuelles et permanentes des relations entre humains et machines. Basée sur l’étude du cas de l’État islamique, l’analyse s’ancre dans des données provenant d’un terrain de recherche de type ethnographique, collectées sur un an et demi. L’enquête est composée d’une observation non participante menée sur plusieurs plateformes numériques exploitées par le groupe jihadiste, de l’archivage et l’analyse des traces en ligne, ainsi que d’un corpus documentaire. Nos résultats contribuent premièrement à une meilleure compréhension de la visibilité des groupes qualifiés d’extrémiste sur les plateformes numériques, en démontrant qu’elle est relationnelle, technicisée et conflictuelle. Notre étude fait tout d’abord ressortir qu’on assiste à une complexification du tableau de la visibilité. La visibilité en ligne de l’État islamique nécessite un vaste réseau d’acteurs, tels que spécialistes des médias, militants, spécialistes en cybersécurité et botnets. La visibilité mêle ainsi des procédés hors-ligne et en ligne, décentralisés et centralisés. L’analyse des pratiques quotidiennes de visibilité montre que le travail d’apparence des militants de l’État islamique suit un objectif d’amplification et d’abondance de leur flux informationnel. Le but est d’inonder les plateformes de réseaux sociaux de contenus pro État islamique, afin de mener une « guerre médiatique ». Par ailleurs, les résultats suggèrent que la visibilité est complexe en raison des séries de contraintes et de forces ennemies qui contrecarrent le projet en ligne de l’État islamique, tel que la modération de leurs contenus. Parallèlement, notre étude montre que la présence de ces usagers a redessiné la régulation de ces technologies en les rendant plus contraignantes. Enfin, nos résultats dévoilent que les militants de l’État islamique refusent l’assujettissement face aux suspensions répétées dont ils font l’objet. Pour limiter les effets négatifs de la modération, le collectif travaille activement à mettre en place des tactiques de résistance. Dans un second temps, la thèse s’intéresse aux formes de visibilité que cette médiation technique entre les militants et les plateformes numériques configure. Nous proposons le concept de visibilité technicisée pour rendre compte de la visibilité en ligne des opinions politiques. Ce type de visibilité se fonde sur l’incessant déploiement d’une raison technique. En cela, la visibilité devient une activité spécialisée qui exploite les dimensions techniques et automatisées des technologies numériques, avec leurs normativités propres. Si la visibilité technicisée confère aux utilisateurs du pouvoir pour assurer leur visibilité, la thèse émet certaines réserves quant à la valeur réelle de ce faire-voir. Elle montre que, dans la quête d’efficacité et d’abondance qui la caractérise, ce type de visibilité technicisée généralise un ensemble de comportements nuisibles et de procédures trompeuses pour exprimer une opinion politique. Révélatrices de nouvelles formes de domination et d’asymétrie, nous plaidons qu’elle pourrait à terme contraindre le jeu démocratique. / This thesis focuses on the visibility of extremist groups on the internet. While several studies have focused on describing the different uses of digital technologies by radical groups and the way the internet would operate as a catalyst for radicalization, few studies have sought to analyze the constitutive relationship between the technical apparatus and the militant extremist. The objective of the thesis is to renew the visibility model of groups classified as extremists, taking into account the mutual reconfigurations between digital platforms and the militant groups. At a theoretical level, our study is situated at the intersection of actor-network theory (ANT), software studies and Lucy Suchman’s work (2007) on the dynamic reconfiguration of mutual and permanent relationships between humans and machines. Based on the case study of the Islamic State, this analysis, lasting one and a half years, was anchored in data from an ethnographic research field. The survey consists of non-participant observation of several digital platforms exploited by the jihadist group, online archiving and analysis of online traces, as well as a documentary corpus. Our results contribute to better understanding how groups qualified as extremist develop their visibility on digital platforms, by emphasizing that it is relational, technical and conflictual. First of all, our study demonstrates the evolution to a more complex development of the resources used to obtain visibility. The online visibility of the Islamic state requires a vast network of actors, such as media specialists, activists, cybersecurity specialists and botnets. For this reason, offline and online, decentralized and centralized processes are combined. The analysis of their daily practices shows that the work of Islamic state militants to obtain visibility strive at amplification and abundance of their information flow. Their goal is to inundate social media platforms with their contents, conducting a “media war”. Furthermore, the results obtained suggest that developing visibility is complex due to a series of constraints and enemy forces that thwart the Islamic State project, such as moderation of contents as an example. At the same time, our study shows that the presence of this type of users has resulted in the redesign of the regulation of these technologies, making them more restrictive. Finally, the results reveal that the Islamic state militants are actively working to put in place resistance tactics in order to limit the negative effects of that moderation. In a second step, the thesis focuses on the forms of visibility evolving from this technical mediation between activists and digital platforms. We suggest the concept of technical visibility to highlight the online visibility of political opinions. This type of visibility is based on the deployments of a technical rationality. Therein the creation of visibility becomes a specialized activity using the technical as well as mechanized dimensions of digital technologies, each with their own mode of normativity. If technical visibility gives users the possibility to develop their visibility, the thesis expresses certain reservations as to the real value of this “ faire-voir ”. It shows that this type of technical visibility, due to its characteristic quest for efficiency and abundance of information, generalizes bulk, aggressive, or deceptive activity. This results in new forms of domination and asymmetry. We therefore argue that it could jeopardize democracy.

Wie kann "Forschendes Lernen" noch besser in die politikwissenschaftliche Lehre integriert werden? Dieser Frage gingen sechs Lehrende an den sächsischen Universitäten Dresden, Leipzig und Chemnitz im Wintersemester 2015/2016 mit einem gemeinsam entworfenen Projektseminar unter dem Titel "Rechtsextremismus und Zivilgesellschaft" nach. Im Interview berichten die Beteiligten von ihren Konzeptionen und deren Umsetzung.

This thesis is focused on the issue of violence in civil society. Using Charles Tilly's political theory, it attempts to point out that the emergence of collective violence can be well understood by tracing small scale causes (mechanisms), rather than large causes (poverty, extremism etc.). This argument is empirically studied in the context of anti-Roma riots that took place in Šluknov Hook, Czech republic, in the year 2011. The research is based on a broad concept of civil society, which doesn't assume fixed division between civil and uncivil subjects, but works with a number of actors, whose identity is unstable and their acting strategy fluently changes from nonviolent to violent and contra. The data show, that radical actors are generally more prone to use force. However, Tilly's theory provides opportunity to explain their influence on majority through the dynamics of relationships that is studied in this paper. The catalogue of events was created on the basis of news and document analysis and the incidence of theoretically defined mechanisms is identified by process tracing method: Boundary activation between us and them (mainly network-based escalation, signaling spirals), polarization, competitive display, selective retaliation, containment, monitoring, certification/decertification and...

The position of the Roman Catholic Church to Islamic extremism Abstract The present thesis deals with the attitude of the Pope, those spiritual state performing the function in individual institutions of the Holy See, theologians and a selected group of people from the Czech general public Roman Catholic Church to religious extremism, focusing on the ultimate form of extremism - terrorism - of individuals or groups espousing to Islam. Since religious extremism often associated with fundamentalism, radicalism and fanaticism, is the first chapter to analyze the basic characteristics of these concepts, with the emphasis on analyzing the meaning and essence of their grasp. A comparison of them found what they have in common and what they are different. Following the above leads to analysis of how extremism reflect the religious and intellectual personalities of islam, with attached description and comparison of the attitudes of these figures, and militant-minded muslims to the jihad by the sword "al-džihád bi̕ s-sajf". In connection with this armed form of jihad work briefly compares the concept of martyrdom in islam and the roman catholic church and the result in the summary analyses. It is also a brief look into the history of religious extremism, as an integral part of the development of Christianity and...

1 Abstract This diploma thesis' aim was to find out what are the security measures countering radicalization and extremism in Bosnia-Herzegovina and whether there is any room for improvement. Firstly, the thesis analysed several official documents related to the security of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the relevant reports of the international community, in order to review the concrete security measures and compared them with security measures, which are in effect in other European countries. This allowed the author to draw specific security recommendation for Bosnia-Herzegovina based on the best-practices from abroad. Secondly, this thesis provides the opinions of three experts on Bosnia-Herzegovina and its internal situation. The experts assessed the security situation in the country, identified the areas of security which shall be enhanced and proposed concrete measures, which could elevate the security situation in the country. This thesis's main assumption was that the security measures currently in effect are insufficient and that there is much room for improvement. The analysis of the documents showed that there are many specific security measures, in terms of fighting radicalisation of youth, online radicalisation or religious extremism, which are used abroad, that could be implemented to...

In recent years Europe experienced several terrorist attacks on its soil. Some of these were committed by Jihadists radicalised in prisons. An issue already identified by scholars has thus become publicly known and attracted attention of policy makers. The combination of Islamic propaganda with jails imprisoning substantial amount of vulnerable inmates and incarceration of returning foreign fighters create a mixture threatening to produce more violent extremists. The aim of this thesis is to describe how Germany approaches the issue and connect its solution with existing radicalisation models and prison regime concepts. Because of the federal structure of Germany, this description is based on analysis of three levels: institutional analysis of the German framework (macro); comparison of state projects tackling the issue (meso); and a case study of practitioners of one federal state (micro). The thesis comes to a conclusion, that the German strategy is strongly decentralised, still not in its final form, applies the concept of dynamic security as its prison regime and approaches the issue from a holistic perspective, involving also non-state actors and other areas of radicalisation.

Despite women's historical involvement in far phenomenon is a mismatch between analysts' expectations and far right women's be The lack of substantial research that focuses on women's narratives and recollections of their women's positions. A recent replication of this phenomenon is right women's motivations in en the movement is aligned to their interests. Additionally, I engage with women's perspectives on right and the lack of space and support for women's the subjects of women's interests in the alt right' women's perspectives in women's terms, as such an approach will provide analysts and

The analysis of security policy, in its variations, regularly deals with the question of what each actor wants to promote in domestic or international politics, in other words, what is his interest. The term "national interest" is not an abstract category and a rhetorical turn legitimizing government action in front of the public audience or in dispute with political opposition. One of the aims of the presented thesis is to present the concept of national interest as a useful tool enabling closer research of domestic policy within the security context. Our main thematic focus, in which we examine the constitution of national interest, is the Czech counterterrorism policy in the context of the reaction of the Czech government and security forces to the terrorist attacks in Paris in autumn 2015 and in Brussels in March of the following year. An extraordinary measure after the attacks in Brussels in the form of the deployment of the Czech Army performing police tasks in mixed patrols in three Czech cities is for us a key manifestation of counterterrorism policy. This constitution of the security policy, we are further investigating. The main motivation is to explain the reasons why the mentioned security measure took place, which has no analogs in the history of the Czech Republic. We conclude that...