Description
Securitization Theory offers a framework for understanding how issues are constructed as security threats. According to Balzacq (2010), securitization involves establishing a connection between an object and a perceived threat to that object; securitizing is the act of identifying a phenomenon, event, or person as a source of insecurity or threat to individuals, states, or political communities. The process of securitization unfolds through "securitization moves," where actors (usually political leaders) articulate and propagate the notion that a particular issue constitutes a security threat. When these moves are successful, the issue becomes securitized, resulting in the acceptance of extraordinary measures to address the perceived threat.
This paper examines the dynamics and effects of gendered securitisation of Islam in Northern Europe, looking at the interactions of Muslim women citizens with State bodies (education, police, administration, etc.), media representations and chiefly and most importantly via the everyday interactions of Muslim citizens with the social mainstream of Northern European States.
The paper uses securitisation theory, concretely Cesari’s (2009) Securitisation of Islam theory, adapted with post-Copenhaguen reformulations of Securitisation that draw empahsis on the audience response and dialectical nature of securitisation processes.
The paper applies this theory inductively to focus on social exclusion and discrimination, to highlight how “non-elite” actors (journalists, everyday citizens) also shape socio-political perceptions of European security issues. Furthermore, the cross-country comparison will shed light on the interplay between securitising agents, securitising moves and how different national cultural models of inclusion or exclusion, in combination with the “war on terror”, racializes and excludes Muslim European women, rendering them unsafe and unwanted.
Empirically, this article will draw on the DRIVE’s H20 project interview materials with Muslims citizens, with a particular focus on the Danish and Dutch data, which provide two highly comparable but distinct case studiess.
