The remote securitisation of Islam in the US post-9/11: euphemisation, metaphors and the “logic of expected consequences” in counter-radicalisation discourse

This article critically analyses the securitisation of Islam post-9/11 in the US and argues that this securitisation is a remote securitisation whereby the securitisers – the security practitioners – are placed at a distance from the securitisees – the Muslim community. This is achieved through two processes of security practice: linguistically by euphemising language and using metaphors, and analytically by understanding radicalisation through a rationalist perspective, which follows the “logic of expected consequences”. This article further problematises the rationalist view of radicalisation in the counterterrorism sector in the US and concludes by introducing a Bourdieusan concept of relationality to critical counter-radicalisation studies.