Anti-Terrorism, Citizenship and Security in the United Kingdom, 2010

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.This is a qualitative data collection. The experience of terrorist attacks since 9/11 has led to an increased interest in governmental responses to unconventional political violence. To date however, very little research has been conducted on how ordinary people think about such measures, and particularly the ways in which specific anti-terrorist measures impact on people's perceptions and experiences of safety and security. The project aimed to address this lacuna by conducting focus groups with communities across the United Kingdom, organised around two key segments for analysis: ethnicity and geographical location. In doing so, the aim was to shed light on three important questions: 1. to what extent do significant differences exist in attitudes to anti-terrorism measures based on an individual's geography or ethnicity? 2. What implications do these attitudes - and differences therein - pose for citizenship within the UK? 3. How specifically do 'ordinary' people understand the term 'security' in this particular context, and, indeed, also beyond? Initial findings suggested that whilst differences between ethnic groups in terms of attitudes to anti-terrorism policies (support for them, or otherwise) are slight, that there are more pronounced differences in terms of how such measures have impacted upon individual citizens and communities. Such differences suggest that anti-terrorism measures have differential impacts on different communities and may contribute to a fragmentation of citizenship in the UK. Main Topics:Topics covered in the focus group interviews include racism, terrorism, media, human rights, foreign policy, anti-terrorism, freedom, security, equality, ethnicity, identity, integration, radicalisation, economic conditions and education