Bringing History Back into Securitization Stories

A Comparison Between French, British, and German ways of Securitizing Islam

Jeanne Prades

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN:
  9783031949807
• eBook ISBN:
  9783031949814
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: National Security
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This book examines the way securitization (and representations) of Islam and Muslims varies from one national context to another in Western Europe over the longue durée, in contrast to most literature that assumes a homogenous post-9/11 securitization of Islam in the West. Through a detailed empirical analysis of different cultural contexts (Germany, Britain, and France), both historical and comparative, this book brings to the fore differences in the relationship between religion and politics and the different philosophical underpinnings of European understandings of integration and liberalism. It also highlights how historical representations of Islam and Muslims resonate, or not, in contemporary discourses on security, thus creating a bridge between studies of imperialism, colonialism and orientalism, and critical studies of security in international relations.

Table of contents

• Bringing History Back into Securitization Stories
• Contents
• List of Tables
• 1. A Comparative, Historical, and Narrative Study on the Securitization of Islam in Western Europe
• 2. Islam and Western Europe from the “Eastern Question” to the “Muslim Question”: Competing Histories
• 3. The Securitization of Islam in Contemporary Western Europe: Different Stories
• 4. The Endurance of National (Hi)Stories in Securitization Stories
• 5. Deconstructing the “West” in Its Relations to the “East”
• Appendix A: Methodological Appendix—Narrative Analysis Steps
• Appendix B: European Corpus
• Bibliography