This article examines the transferability of counter-terrorism (CT) policy frameworks originally developed in response to Islamist extremism to an evolving threat landscape increasingly shaped by right-wing extremism. Focusing on prevention and community-based P/CVE programming, it assesses whether existing approaches to identifying “at-risk” communities can be effectively applied across different extremist contexts.
Through a review of policy and academic literature and a qualitative comparative analysis, the article demonstrates how assumptions about community and gender are deeply embedded in CT policy design. It highlights how gender roles influence both radicalisation narratives and the effectiveness of prevention strategies, and how simplistic or essentialist understandings of gender can undermine policy transferability.
The article argues that applying a gender lens is essential for adapting CT and P/CVE policy to new and diverse threat profiles, and calls for more nuanced, gender-responsive approaches to community engagement and prevention across the counter-terrorism spectrum.