ABSTRACT
This chapter critically analyzes the counter-terrorist narrative in Morocco and argues that the perceived threat of terrorism is used by the regime in order to legitimize and normalize exceptional measures and human rights violations. The chapter analyzes discursive and non-discursive practices, overcoming the central socio-linguistic focus of Critical Terrorism Studies by borrowing sociological tools from the proponents of International Political Sociology. Moreover, Critical Security Studies’ central analyses of western securitization processes have neglected the transnational dialogue on the Global War on Terror (GWoT) in the Global South, and its elites. The use of the counter-terrorist narrative in Morocco helps us to understand the relational and political nature of the concept of security and its effect on social power relations. The paper concludes that the GWoT strengthens authoritarianism in Morocco and opens the debate on the impact that this local alignment with global securitization practices has on other global issues such as conflict resolution, democratization, or development.
