ABSTRACT
In the past five years, France has become one of the main targets of jihadist violence and is the largest producer of foreign fighters in Europe. The country has also seen a surge of anti-Semitic incidents; indebted to the historical experience of the French New Right, extreme right movements are very active and have recently been bolstered in the context of the ‘anti-gender’ mobilisations. The country is marked by an important colonial history and long-standing Islamophobia as well as Muslims’ substantial social and spatial discrimination; it also hosts an electorally successful radical right populist party. All this can fuel the extreme right but also resentment among Muslims, which can provide fertile ground for jihadist extremism. Since 2015, French governments have repeatedly established a national state of emergency; prevention policies target people believed to be at risk of radicalisation. Criticism has been levelled at these measures, based on the claim that they jeopardise human rights. Reflecting the distinctive republican relegation of religion to the private sphere, counter-radicalisation policies emphasise the value of laïcité and ‘French Islam’. Overall, although security measures to protect Jewish sites and organisations have been heightened, the emphasis is put on jihadist extremism as opposed to right-wing extremism.
