French normalisation of exceptional powers as a response to terrorism post-Paris attacks

This article explores the crystallisation of counterterrorism emergency powers and the normalisation of the “exceptional” in the French context. It scrutinises the framing of the terrorist threat within political discourse in the aftermath of the attacks of 13 November 2015, to the enactment of the Strengthening Homeland Security and Fight against Terrorism (SILT) bill in October 2017. The article aims to challenge the prevailing paradigm of urgency and the concept of desecuritisation by exploring the sustained normalisation of extraordinary powers. This reveals a colonial continuum intrinsic to the practice and exercise of extraordinary powers. Indeed, the state of emergency in the French context directly emerges from a colonial law (Law of 1955) enacted during the War in Algeria as a response to the Front de Libération National Algérien in November 1954. In the contemporary era, extraordinary and emergency powers are utilised, extended and institutionalised. Thus, the article explores this paradox between the exceptional, unprecedented terrorist threat and the forever application of exceptional powers, expressed through the discursive and political constructed temporalities which render desecuritisation unattainable. The article advocates for the necessity of examining the colonial origins of such powers and techniques within the broader context of counterterrorism.

https://doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2024.2440948