1st Edition

The Normalisation of Exceptional Counterterrorism Powers Framing The Terrorist Threat in France

By Marine Guéguin Copyright 2026
266 Pages 6 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

266 Pages 6 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book investigates the framing of the terrorist threat in France from 2015 to 2020 as an ‘exceptional’ challenge which requires a ‘special’ public security response. The book examines how French political actors framed the terrorist threat in French political discourse from an exceptional challenge to a permanent, routine threat. It provides an in-depth critical discourse analysis of the... Read more

Introduction

1 Critical Terrorism Studies as a field of research

2 The securitisation theoretical framework

3 The politically constructed and securitised terrorist ‘other’ post-Charlie Hebdo attacks

4 The label of ‘guerre contre le terrorisme’: The progressive securitisation of the unprecedented terrorist threat

5 The terrorist threat post-Paris attacks: From a three-month application of exceptional powers to its normalisation

Conclusion

Biography

Marine Guéguin is a Lecturer in Security Studies and International Relations at Leeds Beckett University, UK. Her research focuses on terrorism and counterterrorism in France, as well as the legacies of colonialism in these practices, both domestically and internationally. In 2025, she published an article in the Journal of Critical Studies on Terrorism titled ‘French normalisation of exceptional powers as a response to terrorism post-Paris attacks’.