Policing the Perceived Threat： Securitization of the Muslim Population in France During 2004-2005

The subject of this research is the policing activities in France during 2004-2005 towards its Muslim population and related public discourses. It will compare the statistics of judiciary police and administrative police provided by the French authority in order to study the relation between surveillance activities and criminality of the given population. It will point out that the preventative measures taken by the administrative police specifically towards the Muslim population are disproportionately high in comparison to the actual occurences of terrorist actions committed by the group. Using the notion of securitization as an analytical tool, the paper will explain that the cohabitation with the Muslim population had been represented as an existential threat in France justifying severe measures disproportionate to the objective threat. It concludes that the acute vigilance surrounding the Muslims derives significantly from the raised ＂securityness＂ the French authority itself attributed to its Muslim population. The argument presented in this study adds an important perspective to the study of immigration. It shows how an escalation of securitization leads to heightened tension between the immigrants and the host society, actualizing the perceived threat by its own acts.