The Banality of Islamophobia: Confronting the Hegemonic Ambitions of Counter-Radicalisation

Since the mid-2000s, counter-radicalisation has emerged as a modality of security governance that deploys a range of interventions in the non-security space to disrupt the “radicalisation” process. In Western countries, counter-radicalisation, desiring to curtail domestic “Islamist” terrorism, has disproportionately targeted Muslims. Important critiques have problematised counter-radicalisation for treating Muslims as the suspect community, engendering securitisation, and using risk, precrime, and racial logics. While these critiques are insightful, I contend that extant studies have not sufficiently leveraged the concept of hegemony to analyse counter-radicalisation. Focusing on the case of Canada, I argue that the concept of hegemony is central to understanding how counter-radicalisation regimes produce consent for the racial projects of national security. I show that counter-radicalisation is the site of production of everyday Islamophobia. It reinforces the common-sense understanding that “radicalisation” is a dangerous phenomenon tied to Muslimness. Based on interviews with Muslim community organisations and analysis of policy documents, this study examines how Muslim community organisations internalise and resist key ideas informing counter-radicalisation.