“Enfants de Daesh” vs. “Enfants de la République”: The Discursive Construction of Conditional Belonging and the Shaping of International Legal Reasoning in H.F. and Others v. France (2022)

This thesis examines France’s refusal to systematically repatriate children of French foreign terrorist fighters detained in Northeast Syria after 2019, arguing that this policy is enabled by discursive constructions that frame these minors as conditionally belonging to the national community. Focusing on H.F. and Others v. France (2022), the study traces how French political and media discourse constructs these children as “dangerous innocents,” simultaneously vulnerable and securitized. Drawing on Critical Discourse Analysis and legal discourse analysis, it shows how the case-by-case doctrine operates as a technology of exclusion, transforming nationality and children’s rights into discretionary protections. The analysis further demonstrates how these discursive logics are reproduced within international legal reasoning, where procedural safeguards are prioritized over substantive obligations. The thesis situates this dynamic within broader debates on securitization, republican...Show moreThis thesis examines France’s refusal to systematically repatriate children of French foreign terrorist fighters detained in Northeast Syria after 2019, arguing that this policy is enabled by discursive constructions that frame these minors as conditionally belonging to the national community. Focusing on H.F. and Others v. France (2022), the study traces how French political and media discourse constructs these children as “dangerous innocents,” simultaneously vulnerable and securitized. Drawing on Critical Discourse Analysis and legal discourse analysis, it shows how the case-by-case doctrine operates as a technology of exclusion, transforming nationality and children’s rights into discretionary protections. The analysis further demonstrates how these discursive logics are reproduced within international legal reasoning, where procedural safeguards are prioritized over substantive obligations. The thesis situates this dynamic within broader debates on securitization, republican universalism, and the conditional boundaries of citizenship in contemporary counterterrorism governance.Show less

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“Enfants de Daesh” vs. “Enfants de la République”: The Discursive Construction of Conditional Belonging and the Shaping of International Legal Reasoning in H.F. and Others v. France (2022)