ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to explore the scope of right-wing counter-extremism policies to address Islamic extremism in Germany. It discusses the failure to define the far right, the conflation of the threat with Islamic extremism, and the prioritisation of Islamic concerns. The far right is constructed as an inherently abstract threat. While Islamic extremism is understood within a framework of detailed information and analysis, there is no comparable attempt to signpost or clarify what the far-right risk may constitute. By reinforcing a perceived distinctiveness of Islamic extremism through this act of prioritisation, Prevent actually serves to exacerbate the resentment associated with previous approaches to counter-radicalisation. It may promote the incentives towards far-right radicalisation that it seeks to overcome. Extending the scope of Prevent to address the far right has been presented as a major step forward in counter-radicalisation.
