Leiden University Student Repository

Konstantelli, Anna-Maria (2023)

Security and state responses to terrorism: A comparative study of France and the United Kingdom

Master thesis | Political Science (MSc)

Terrorism has been a highly salient issue in Europe for the past decades and is treated as an immediate threat to the states and citizens. This study focuses on the 2015-2019 terrorism wave and seeks to identify why states with similar characteristics respond differently to a common threat; through a comparative analysis of the cases of France and the United Kingdom. A securitization framework is applied to examine what ultimately leads to the variation of the actions in the two cases. The expectation is that intense securitization leads to a militaristic response, while low securitization levels lead to a criminal justice approach. The empirical analysis lends support to this argument; however, this study finds it possible that other explanatory factors might be interrelated to the proposed mechanism, influencing the result. This thesis, uses a framework of analysis that links the aspects of security and terrorism and endeavors to further contribute to the study of these topics.

Terrorism

Europe

EU

France

UK

United Kingdom

Securitization

Author

Konstantelli, Anna-Maria

Faculty

Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences

Specialisation

International Organization

Supervisors

Macaj, G.

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en