Citizenship and terrorism

Résumé 0

In this century the issue of security has posed a challenge to democratic procedures of membership and rights. The cause of this shift was the phenomenon of terrorist attacks by people from within the country. The current relationship between citizenship and terrorism occurred with the use of the term “home-grown” by the British public authorities to refer to the most common jihadi profile after the 7/7 attack (7th July 2005) in London. This chapter starts with the notion of home-grown terrorists and how this type of terrorism has impacted the way governments and society monitor citizens and how much this has impacted people’s rights, with some citizens being deprived of humanitarian and citizens’ rights. Deprivation of citizenship has been used as a political measure of security in reference to counterterrorism. However, studies and reports question the efficiency of such measures, and emphasize instead the importance of education and of the fight against discrimination. The challenge is for states to respect their liberal democratic values and their understanding of citizenship.