Description
Post 2015-Paris attacks, France securitised, non-desecuritised and normalised the threat of terrorism leading to the securitisation of the everyday (Guéguin, 2022). The vernacular securitisation and the French counterterrorism experience have been significantly understudied in the context of wider debates and remains overlooked by the CTS literature. In particular, the French securitisation processes use anti-terror laws implemented outside counterterrorism scope to securitise body(ies) and space(s). France is a significant case study showcasing how political practices and discourses depict the State as the referent object to protect from ‘troubles to public order’, leading to securitising body(ies) of terrorists and the French space post-Paris attacks; and in 2023 the body(ies) of French citizens and rights to protest within the public space. It questions the relationalities between anti-terror laws and their applications beyond: how anti-terror measures implemented beyond the scope of their application, and the vernacular application of those measures control and monitor body(ies) and space(s) to further protect ‘national security’? Space(s), body(ies) are securitised and question the (un)protection of fundamental democratic principles. The paper draws on similarities between British and French anti-terror laws to prevent people from protesting against government policies though ‘securitisation forces’: police and Sentinelle as a means to an end.
