Joel Busher

Joel Busher is Professor of Political Sociology at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations (CTPSR), Coventry University. His primary research interests are in anti-minority activism, the dynamics of political violence and restraint, and the enactment of security policy and its societal impacts. He has published extensively on these topics, and his book, The Making of Anti-Muslim Protest (Routledge), was awarded the British Sociological Association’s Philip Abrams Memorial Prize.

He frequently presents to and advises policymakers and practitioners at local, national and international levels. He is an Associate Editor of Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression; and an Expert Consultant on the International Consensus Guidelines Committee of the Canadian Practitioners Network for the Prevention of Radicalization and Extremist Violence (CPN-PREV).

CREST Outputs

Projects
Commissioned year
Evaluating Security Interventions in Public Locations: Developing and Testing a Co-created Framework for Protective Security
This project will help understand unintended consequences of flawed protective security logic, and more importantly provide a framework to consider success from the earliest possible stage across the protective security spectrum (e.g., training, physical security, people and personnel, and procedural).
Project
|
2021 – 2022
Commissioned year
‘Hot periods’ of anti-minority activism and the threat of violent domestic extremism: Towards an assessment framework
The aim of this project then is to generate new policy- and practice-relevant insight about the pathways towards and away from non-state actor violence during periods of intense anti-minority activism.
Project
|
2019 – 2020
Commissioned year
The Internal brakes on violent escalation
Why do some ‘extremists’ or ‘extremist groups’ choose not to engage in violence, or only in particular forms of low-level violence? Why is it that even in deeply violent groups there are often thresholds of violence that members rarely if ever cross, even if they apparently have the capability to do so?
Project
|
2017 – 2018
Articles
new
Article
Joel Busher, Sarah Marsden, Leena Malkki
Radicalisation and Counter-Radicalisation Research: Past, Present and Future
Research on radicalisation has come on apace over the last two decades. A major new Handbook on Radicalisation and Countering Radicalisation maps its past, present, and future and finds a field in rude health.
Article
|
Article
Joel Busher, Gareth Harris, Julia Ebner, Zsófia Hacsek, Graham Macklin
The escalation and inhibition of violence during waves of far-right or anti-minority protests
Article
|
6 min read
Report
Joel Busher, Gareth Harris, Julia Ebner, Zsófia Hacsek, Graham Macklin
The Dynamics Of Violence Escalation And Inhibition During 'Hot Periods' Of Anti-Minority And Far-Right Activism
Report
|
10 min read
Article
Joel Busher, Gareth Harris, Graham Macklin
Credibility contests and the ebb and flow of anti-minority activism
Article
|
10 min read
Article
Joel Busher, Donald Holbrook, Graham Macklin
Explaining Non- Or Limited Escalation Of Violence: The role of ‘Internal Brakes'
Article
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3 min read
Report
Joel Busher, Donald Holbrook, Graham Macklin
The Internal Brakes on Violent Escalation: A Descriptive Typology
Report
|
6 min read
Report
Joel Busher, Donald Holbrook, Graham Macklin
The Internal Brakes on Violent Escalation: The Transnational and British Jihadi Scene
Report
|
1 min read
Report
Joel Busher, Donald Holbrook, Graham Macklin
The Internal Brakes on Violent Escalation: The British Extreme Right
Report
|
1 min read
Report
Joel Busher, Donald Holbrook, Gareth Harris
The Internal Brakes on Violent Escalation: The Animal Liberation Movement
Report
|
1 min read