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British Prime Minister David Cameron is announcing today a five-year plan to counter homegrown Islamic radicalism that is feeding efforts by militant groups like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. But while Mr. Cameron plans to focus on countering the message that radicals are using to recruit British youth, critics warn that the prime minister needs to do more to address legitimate criticism of British policies and to promote British ideals.

Cameron is speaking today in Birmingham, home to one of Britain's largest Muslim populations. Writing before the speech (though portions of it were provided to the media ahead of time), The Times of London says that Cameron is particularly focused on "non-violent extremists," i.e. those who hold ideas 鈥渉ostile to basic liberal values鈥� and who promote 鈥渄iscrimination, sectarianism and segregation.鈥�

Cameron underscores the need to "de-glamourise the extremist cause, especially [the Islamic State]. This isn鈥檛 a pioneering movement 鈥� it is vicious, brutal, fundamentally abhorrent."

The prime minister offers four reasons why he says British youth are attracted to radical Islam, writes the Guardian.

But while Cameron's speech suggests a new focus on battling the psychology of radicalism, rather than just reacting to those already radicalized when they try to travel to Iraq and Syria or return home to Britain, it is unclear just what Cameron means in terms of new policy. Efforts to engage Islamist arguments before they take root in young minds are not new.

The challenge has always been to fight Islamist ideologies without abridging Western liberal values that promote free expression and exchange of ideas. Cameron's government has come under fire from civil rights groups for espousing programs that run counter to those values, such as the so-called "snooper's charter," a bill to strengthen the government's surveillance operations, many of which target "non-violent extremists."

That is why some British Muslim groups argue that Britain is not simply a target of convenience for angry youth, but is stirring resentment with its policies. Commenting to the Guardian before Cameron's speech, Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the interfaith-dialogue Ramhadan Foundation, said that "Successive governments have also conflated security/ extremism with integration and cohesion which I believe is the wrong debate." Rather, he said, the government must "seriously listen and understand the concerns of British Muslims."

Bill Durodi茅, a professor and radicalization expert at the University of Bath, made similar comments to the Guardian, arguing that Britain is "no longer able to promote itself more positively." Cameron must extol the positive aspects of being British, he said, not just criticize radicals like IS.