'Social and cultural prevention'? A critical review of the discourse and projections of the Plan for the Prevention of Radicalisation in Spain

Abstract

This article poses a critical review of the content, projections and context of approval of the National Strategic Plan to Fight Violent Radicalization, especially around some of its most controversial elements. Four years after the adoption of the PEN-CLRV, it is not possible to perform an empirical contrast of its effects, achievements or shortcomings, although this same fact may be a relevant element to advance some notes. In any case, even having to face some unanswered questions, our analysis will aim to those chapters dedicated to integrating the spheres, institutions and professionals from the spheres of social or educational intervention in a strategy which is almost opposite to their approaches: the so-called “fight against terrorism”, its biopolitical ethos and its police-warlike trend. After a review of the key concepts and an analysis of the underlying logic of this discourse, this article’s main contribution stresses an important —and unresolved— debate on how a certain idea of security affects the design and execution of the public policies, as well as the current trends regarding the relationship between the spheres of social protection and punitive control.