Confronting Incel: exploring possible policy responses to misogynistic violent extremism

ABSTRACT

Sexually and socially frustrated ‘Incels’ have committed acts of violent extremism in North America and pose increasing threat to Australia and other industrialised settings. We consider policy responses to a form of misogynist violence that targets men and women indiscriminately. Provocatively, we advocate securitising Incel. We consider how securitisation need not only emerge from supportive framings in the media and public discourse, but can also be an active agent in creating them. We then engage with the appropriate responses. Reviewing the likely successful policy responses indicates the problematic nature of previous securitisation efforts. We argue that the best response is to try to understand and engage the antagonised other prior to radicalisation, and that this can be successfully enacted through ‘routine’ rather than ‘exceptional’ types of governance. However, securitisation remains a necessary first step in unlocking the resources and political will for tackling the threat that Incel poses.     

Book reviews

THE UNITED STATES IN WORLD HISTORY. By John B. Rae and Thomas H. D. Mahoney. xv+831 pages. (McGraw Hill Book Co., Inc., New‐York, 1949).

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS IN THE AGE OF CONFLICT BETWEEN DEMOCRACY AND DICTAORSHP. By R. Strausz‐Hupé and Stefan T. Possony. xiv+947 pages. (McGraw‐Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, 1950.)

ISLAMIC SOCIETY AND THE WEST, by H. A. R. Gibb and Harold Bowen. Vol. I. Islamic Society in the Eighteenth Century, Part I. Oxford University Press. Published under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, pp. xi—313—53 (Appendices)—20 (Indices).

AMERICAN‐RUSSIAN RELATIONS IN THE FAR EAST. By Pauline Tompkins. (Macmillan, New York, 1949. pp. XIV, 426. Maps and bibliography. $5.00).

THE LEFT WING IN SOUTHEAST ASIA. By Virginia Thompson & Richard Adloff (I.P.R.) (William Sloane Associates, New York. $4.00. pp. 298, map, illustrations).

MANCHURIA SINCE 1931. By F. C. Jones. (Oxford University Press, 1949).     

Book reviews

THE ADAPTABLE COMMONWEALTH. F. H. Soward, 1950 (London, O.U.P., pp. 62). 2/‐.

EUROPE IN DECAY: A STUDY IN DISINTEGRATION 1936–1940. By L. B. Namier. 1950. (London. MacMillan, viii+330. 16s.).

EDUCATION AND SOCIETY IN MODERN GERMANY. R. H. Samuel and R. H. Thomas. Routledge and Kegan Paul (Int. Lib. of Soc. & Soc. Recon.). London 1949.

THE IDEA OF CONFLICT. By Kurt Singer. (Melbourne University Press. pp. 181).