Description
Amid growing international concern over the alleged southward expansion of jihadist insurgencies from the Sahel towards the Gulf of Guinea, this article critically examines how discourses and practices on preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) travel transnationally across professional fields, and thereby undergo processes of translations, localization and adaptations. Leveraging a critical security studies and postcolonial approach, it particularly examines the Ghanaian National Framework for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism and Terrorism (NAFPCVET), and discusses findings deriving from qualitative fieldwork conducted in Ghana. The article argues that the NAFPCVET mirrors key features of the UK’s Prevent strategy – its epistemological foundations, institutional design, and preventive logic – thus reproducing colonial hierarchies of knowledge and intervention. The transplantation of the UK model, rather than fostering resilience or inclusion, has re-inscribed securitized readings of identity and belonging, particularly in relation to Fulani communities in northern Ghana. This process, the paper contends, contributes to the stigmatization and marginalization of already vulnerable populations, potentially undermining the very objectives of counter-extremism efforts. By tracing the circulation and reconfiguration of counter-extremism paradigms, the article highlights how “the global travels of security” entrench neo-colonial power relations and epistemic dependencies.
