Terrorism in Contemporary France: A Vicious Circle of Violence

169 Pages·2023·3.473 MB·English

by  Jan Eichler

Contributions to Political Science
Jan Eichler
Terrorism in
Contemporary
France
A Vicious Circle of Violence
Contributions to Political Science
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Jan Eichler
Terrorism in Contemporary
France
A Vicious Circle of Violence
JanEichler
InstituteofInternationalRelations
Praha1,CzechRepublic
ISSN2198-7289 ISSN2198-7297 (electronic)
ContributionstoPoliticalScience
ISBN978-3-031-23550-4 ISBN978-3-031-23551-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23551-1
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Contents
1 IntroductionoftheBook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 PresentationoftheChaptersofThisBook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 FourBigFrenchPresidents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 OmnipresentFearFromTerroristAttacks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2 KeyTheoreticalConceptsandMethodology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.1 TheConceptoftheViciousCircle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2 Theory:WhyandHowtheTextWillUsetheTheoretical
HeritageofPierreBourdieu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.3 PierreBourdieuandHisKeyConcepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.4 ThreeKeyActorsinContemporaryFrance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.5 TheTheoreticalApproachestoTerroristAttacks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.6 Methodology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.7 ResearchQuestions. . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. 34
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3 WhatPrecededtheAttacksAgainstFrance:From9/11tothe
EuropeanFrontoftheGlobalTerror(2001–2005). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.1 TheAttacksfrom9/11astheBeginningoftheEraofthe
GlobalTerror. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.2 TheUSDoctrinalDocumentsfortheGWOT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.3 JihadistDoctrinalAnswerastheMirroroftheBushDoctrine. . . . 43
3.4 GlobalClashofDoctrinalViolence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.5 USMilitaryInterventionsinAfghanistanandIraq. . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.6 TheEuropeanFrontoftheGlobalTerror. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.6.1 Madrid2004. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.6.2 TheLondonAttacksinJuly2005. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.6.3 CommonFeaturesoftheAttacksinMadridandLondon. . 52
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
v
vi Contents
4 TheViciousCircleStarts:TheFrenchMilitaryInterventions
intheCountriesoftheMENAP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.1 GeneralFrameworkofFrenchMilitaryOperations. . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.2 Harmattan2011:AWindWhichBlewOutaDangerousDictator,
butOpenedaPandora’sBox. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
4.3 OperationalServalasInterventionAgainstGangsterJihadism
inMali. . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. 63
4.4 OperationSangarisasaDirectMilitaryInvolvementinaClash
ofCivilizations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4.5 ChammalastheMostControversialFrenchMilitary
Intervention. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4.6 OperationBarkhaneandItsConsequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
4.7 TheHollandeDoctrine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
4.8 TheTakubaTaskForce. . .. . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . . .. 75
4.9 ConclusionoftheChapter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
5 TheViciousCircleEscalates:TheTerroristAttacksAgainst
FranceAfter2015. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
5.1 CharlieHebdoastheFirstFrenchExampleofMilitarized
Terrorism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.2 TheBataclanandParisRestaurantAttacksastheFirst
War-GeneratedPunishmentofFrance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5.3 TheMassMurderinNicein2016andItsDevastating
PoliticalandPsychologicalConsequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
5.4 TheShockingTerroristBestialityinNormandy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5.5 TheAssassinationofSamuelPaty:TheTerroristAttack
inConflans-Sainte-Honorine,16October2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
5.6 TheMacronDoctrineasaPoliticalAnswertotheGrowing
BrutalityofJihadistTerrorism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.6.1 TheFactorsofContinuity.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 112
5.6.2 NewApproachesandNewPriorities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.7 TheTerroristAttackinStrasbourgastheFirstManifest
PunishmentoftheNewFrenchPresident. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.8 ConclusionoftheChapter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
6 TheRevoltofFrenchSoldiersAgainsttheFailingImmigration
Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
6.1 TheRoleoftheFrenchPresidentandItsPrerogatives. . . . . . . . . . 123
6.2 WhatIsatStake?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
6.3 TheGeneralContextoftheRevolt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
6.4 TheMainActsoftheRevoltofFrenchSoldiers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
6.5 GeneralPierredeVilliersinLightoftheTheoryofPierre
Bourdieu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Contents vii
6.6 TwoWorksofConstitution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
6.7 NewPoliticalContextin2022. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
6.8 ConclusionoftheChapter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Documents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
BooksandArticles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
7 ConclusionoftheBook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Reference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Chapter 1
Introduction of the Book
As the main title as well as the subtitle indicate, contemporary France, one of the
mostimportantandinfluentialcountriesofEurope,iswitnessingastronglydanger-
ous period of its history. For a decade, it has suffered an endless series of brutal
terrorist attacks perpetrated by the fanatical Islamic jihadists born and grown in
IslamiccountriesoreveninFrance.Thelastdecade sawtheeffortsofthepolitical
élites of this attacked hexagonal country to deter the jihadists by special military
operations in the Islamic countries, namely, in Sahel. These operations were or
continue to be waged with the aim of destroying the so-called safe havens of the
jihadist organizations that had been used for the preparation of terrorist attacks
againstFrance.Unfortunately,theseoperationsarefollowedbynewterroristattacks
perpetrated in the territory of France or by terrorist attacks against French soldiers
engaged abroad. As a result, France is moving within a typical vicious circle of
violencewithallitsnegativeconsequences.
During thelastdecade, someveryinteresting booksaboutterror inFrance have
beenpublished.ThisisespeciallythecaseforthebookofGillesKepel(2017)and
Olivier Roy (2016a, 2016b). It is generally known that between these two widely
respectedauthors,therearetheoreticalandsociologicaloppositesthatseparatethem.
Boily,Frédéric:LedébatentreGillesKepeletOlivierRoy.1
Inaddition,FrenchmilitaryinterventionsinIslamiccountrieshavebeenanalysed
by some important authors. This is especially the case for the French military
historianMichelGoya(2020,2022).Anotherveryinterestingbookhasbeenwritten
by a respected commander Raphaël Bernard (2021) or by Pérouse de Montclos
(2020),asuccessfulFrenchresearcherandwriter.
Finally,someimportantauthors(namely,Frenchauthors)describedthesecurity
strategy of the French political élites. The most important between them is the
contemporary President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron.2 However, until
1Anatomied’undésaccord.Availableat:https://www.erudit.org›revues›2...
2Macron(2002).
©TheAuthor(s),underexclusivelicensetoSpringerNatureSwitzerlandAG2023 1
J.Eichler,TerrorisminContemporaryFrance,ContributionstoPoliticalScience,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23551-1_1
2 1 IntroductionoftheBook
today, no text has been written with the ambition of synthesizing all the above-
mentioned phenomenathatdeteriorate thesecurity situationofFrance. Itisablind
spotintheresearchofviolenceincontemporaryFrance.Inthislight,theaimofthis
bookistopresentaninterplaybetweenterroristattacks,specialmilitaryoperations,
and political strategy in the field of security. In other words, this text offers a first
contributiontoacomplexanalysisofthesecuritysituationincontemporaryFrance.
Moreover,thissubjectisinterestingnotonlyforFrance,butalsoforallWestern
countrieswithnumerousMuslimcommunitieswhicharemoreandmoreradicalized
byatargetedandconcentratedindoctrinationorchestratedbyhatefuljihadistimams.
This indoctrination is based on the Global Islamic Resistance Call (GIRC), a
doctrinal document written with the aim to destabilize and to destroy the Western
societies.Thisdoctrinerepresents athreatforthewayoflifeofWesternEuropean
societies.Itisasoftthreat,nevertheless,itcanbeunderestimatedbecauseitismore
andmoreacuteandimminent.
1.1 Presentation of the Chapters of This Book
This book is divided into seven parts: introduction, five chapters, and conclusion.
The first chapter presents the key theoretical concepts and methodology of all the
book.Itstartsbytheexplicationoftheconceptoftheviciouscircleandofitsthree
pillars:actors,dynamics,andeffects.Thefollowingpartofthischapterexplainswhy
andhowthisbookwillusethetheoreticalheritageofPierreBourdieu.Itpresentsthe
keyconceptsofthisimportantFrenchauthorwhosetheoreticalheritagecontinuesto
beveryinspirational.Thisisthecaseforthefollowingpivotalconcepts:field,social
warsinthepoliticalfields,capital,andhabitus.Atthesametime,muchattentionis
giventotheconceptsofsymbolicviolenceasanimportantpartofhabitusandtothe
concept of the moral harassment of actors in the political field because these
concepts have great potential for the study of the political fights in contemporary
France.
At the same time, this subchapter presents the potential of the concept of the
depositoryofcollectivememory(DCM),whichwasintroducedbyStefanoGuzzini,
animportantGerman-Italianconstructivistscholarandtheoristofpowerinthefield
ofinternational relations.Thisconceptwillbeusedintheanalysisofthethreekey
actorsoftheviciouscircleofviolenceincontemporaryFrance:thejihaditerrorists,
political élites led by the President Emmanuel Macron, and the revolting soldiers.
TheirrespectiveDCMwillbeanalysedindetailinthelastchapter.
The following section presents the most important theoretical approaches to
terrorist attacks. It concretely explains key ideas of Lawrence Freedman (namely,
his emphasis on geopolitics and history), Bruce Hoffman (his concept of
counterterrorism policy), David Rappoport (his coherent theory of holy terrorism),
AlexSchmid(hisenormouslyvaluableconceptofthestrategyofcommunicationof
terrorist organizations), and Martha Crenshaw (her concept of provocative terror-
ism). All the above-mentioned concepts have great potential for the study and