Exploring the process of banning terrorist organisations in UK Parliament debates

What is it about?

The UK Parliament is frequently asked to consider whether a terrorist organisation should be proscribed (banned) within the UK. In this article we look at all the debates in which the Commons and Lords have debated banning a group. We find that these debates conform to a template of process and themes - it amounts to a ritual, we argue. To show this, we develop a model of ritual that we then apply to UK Parliamentary debates on proscription.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Rituals are powerful phenomenon: they structure our way of seeing the world, affirm collective social or political norms and produce a predicted/expected outcome. Understanding the proscription process in Parliament as a ritual is important, because it suggests that Parliament does not adhere to standards of scrutiny and contestation that we expect from a representative body.