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”We are not afraid": En komparativ analys över statsledares reaktioner på terrorattentat i Europa

Carlqvist, Frida LU (2018) FKVK02 20181
Department of Political Science
Abstract
In recent years, terror attacks have been a common occurrence and topic of conversation in Europe. After attacks struck countries such as Sweden, United Kingdom and France, state leaders have spoken out, providing strategies to move forward and measures to be taken against terror. Those speeches and statements represent a top-level discourse on terrorism in each country and constructs public understanding and perception of the threat from terror.
This study aims to identify security discourses of Swedish, British and French state leaders after Islamist terror attacks since late 2015 and to compare them. This is done through a discourse analysis guided by securitization theory, which states that security – and insecurity – is constructed... (More)
In recent years, terror attacks have been a common occurrence and topic of conversation in Europe. After attacks struck countries such as Sweden, United Kingdom and France, state leaders have spoken out, providing strategies to move forward and measures to be taken against terror. Those speeches and statements represent a top-level discourse on terrorism in each country and constructs public understanding and perception of the threat from terror.
This study aims to identify security discourses of Swedish, British and French state leaders after Islamist terror attacks since late 2015 and to compare them. This is done through a discourse analysis guided by securitization theory, which states that security – and insecurity – is constructed and formed in a speech act that connects certain issues to existential threats in order to motivate extraordinary measures being taken against the problem.
The study finds securitizing moves in all three countries, but that they constitute different levels. Securitization is strongest in the French discourse, with the president focusing on France being at war. The British prime minister also mentions military measures, but mostly the Swedish and British discourses focus on increasing resources for police and intelligence agencies, but above all, that the strongest weapon against terrorism is to continue life as normal. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Carlqvist, Frida LU
supervisor
organization
course
FKVK02 20181
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
terrorism, securitization, discourse, securitizing move, threat from terror, counter-terrorism
language
Swedish
id
8942563
date added to LUP
2018-08-24 08:21:38
date last changed
2018-08-24 08:21:38
@misc{8942563,
  abstract     = {{In recent years, terror attacks have been a common occurrence and topic of conversation in Europe. After attacks struck countries such as Sweden, United Kingdom and France, state leaders have spoken out, providing strategies to move forward and measures to be taken against terror. Those speeches and statements represent a top-level discourse on terrorism in each country and constructs public understanding and perception of the threat from terror.
This study aims to identify security discourses of Swedish, British and French state leaders after Islamist terror attacks since late 2015 and to compare them. This is done through a discourse analysis guided by securitization theory, which states that security – and insecurity – is constructed and formed in a speech act that connects certain issues to existential threats in order to motivate extraordinary measures being taken against the problem. 
The study finds securitizing moves in all three countries, but that they constitute different levels. Securitization is strongest in the French discourse, with the president focusing on France being at war. The British prime minister also mentions military measures, but mostly the Swedish and British discourses focus on increasing resources for police and intelligence agencies, but above all, that the strongest weapon against terrorism is to continue life as normal.}},
  author       = {{Carlqvist, Frida}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{”We are not afraid": En komparativ analys över statsledares reaktioner på terrorattentat i Europa}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}