Researching radicalism

Researchers worry that counter-terrorism studies are unduly influenced by the government departments that fund it.

Rarely are the drawbacks of the state-funding of university research as obvious as when it centres on counter-terrorism, international relations, radicalisation and race.

Much of it is shrouded in mystery. The extent of the programme is not disclosed, though it involves the Home Office, the Department for Communities and Local Government, the National Offender Management Services and the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism. Research results are often not published and the agencies and their parent departments that fund the work do not reveal how much they spend and on exactly what.