Thematic focus: Silver bullet “de-radicalisation“

“De-radicalisation” as embedded prevention
by Dirk Burczyk

For the purpose of combating terrorism states do not only criminalise activities well in advance of a terrorist act. They also rely increasingly on interventions aiming to prevent or reverse “radicalisation”. Though the concept is contested, the prevention of “radicalisation” has become a testbed for censorship, propaganda and the co-optation of civil society engagement for a governmental rationale. Summaries weiterlesen →

Thematic focus: Nothing but counter-terrorism?

Almost suspicious – an introduction
by Heiner Busch

The man who killed twelve people by driving a truck into a Berlin Christmas market on 19 December 2016 was under close surveillance by the police. However, the evidence for making a criminal case was not sufficient. The German government is now planning to expand the powers against so-called “dangerous persons” and aims, among others, to amend the Residence Act and the Federal Criminal Police Office Act. Summaries weiterlesen →

Thematic focus: The new aliens’ police

New old aliens’ police – an introduction
by Heiner Busch

The foreigner and asylum law was always also security law. But fuelled by absurd threat scenarios the law has been massively tightened by the German coalition government since autumn 2015. Summaries weiterlesen →

Thematic focus: The NSU complex – clarification denied

How to overcome a defeat – an introduction
by Heiner Busch

While parliamentary enquiry commissions still seek to clarify the murderous history of the “National Socialist Underground” (NSU) and the role of the domestic intelligence agencies (Verfassungsschutz) in this complex, the federal and state ministers of the interior have found their own way to move on. The position of the Federal Office of the Protection of the Constitution has been strengthened, the dubious use of informers has been legalized, and the president of the federal office is demanding a massive increase of staff for his agency. Summaries weiterlesen →

Thematic focus: European state powers against migration

From the “refugee crisis” back to “normality“
by Heiner Busch
Since 19 April 2015, when around 900 people drowned during a shipwreck off Libya, EU migration politics are in overdrive. In May, the Commission tabled its European Agenda on Migration. Since September several EU Member States attempt stopping refugees on the “Balkans route” by closing their borders. Now, the EU is trying to return to “normality” – a normality which means that refugees and migrants are kept out of the EU or are at best treated as problem of the states at the external borders. Summaries weiterlesen →

Thematic focus: Social work and the police

Social work in the basement of policing – an introduction
by Norbert Pütter
The relationship between the police and social work is disputed in Germany since the 1970s. Though the differing professional self-concepts – control and law enforcement on the one hand, assistance and support on the other hand – is recognized, the assumption that social workers and the police target the same clientele and, thus, have to cooperate is an integral part of the security policy discourse. Whereas the police developed methods of quasi-social work, the policing aspects of social work were unfolded in the context of neoliberal policies since the 1990s. Meanwhile social work is at risk to lose its independence within the diverse networks of cooperation. Summaries weiterlesen →

Focus: Access to Information

Access to documents and internal security
by Norbert Pütter
Access of citizens to information about the state and to data, which the state collects, is an old demand of the civil liberties movement. Today, freedom of information acts exist in eleven German Länder, and at the federal level since 2006. However, security authorities are well shielded by exemption clauses, secret services do not fall under the scope of the acts and they are almost immune against access rights and parliamentary oversight. Hence, the fortification of the security apparatus against information requests is rather unaffected despite of few success stories. Summaries weiterlesen →

Focus: Policing the Crisis

When the emergency button is pushed – an introduction
by Heiner Busch
Moral panics and police violence are regular ingredients of crisis management. This is not only the case in the south of Europe, where the police clearly takes the role of enforcing austerity measures, but also in Germany. Stop and search operations are concentrated in poorer districts of the big cities. Where bureaucratic measures fail, the police comes into action. Summaries weiterlesen →