The French government recently announced a plan to “combat radicalization” and a series of measures
to prevent recourse to violence. Although the term is not entirely new in the French political parlance, it
marks a departure from a counterterrorism policy justified mainly by a judicial approach and enforced
in great part through administrative measures. France is thus moving closer to the Netherlands and
the United Kingdom, which both began to develop such policies in the mid-2000s. Yet what exactly
does it mean to “combat radicalization”? What explains the French government’s change of approach?
And what can be learned from a decade of experience in these two European countries? This study
shows that the concept of radicalization serves as an effective discourse to legitimize the extension of
police action beyond its usual purview, by becoming involved in areas of diversity management such
as education, religion, and social policy. The study traces the dissemination of the discourse through
European institutions and, using the notion of “policed multiculturalism,” analyzes the effects of its
legal, administrative and preventive forms.
Topic:
Security, Corruption, Crime, Terrorism, Multiculturalism, and Counter-terrorism
Political Geography:
United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Western Europe, and European Union