Samenvatting

This dissertation handles the discursive production of security. In particular, it looks at the securitisation of terrorism, placing terrorism as a topic in a space of extreme action. The treatment of terrorism by key members of the discursive process contributes to a gap between the objective reality of terrorism, and how it is perceived by European society. This dissertation finds that the media and political figures to be the key agents in the discursive formation, and that they play distinct roles. The media broadcasts a terrorist incident to an national audience, setting the ideal conditions for a successful securitising speech act to be made by a political figure. The concepts analysed within this dissertation come from critical security studies, such as the securitisation framework and the concept of emancipation. The dissertation itself, while using concepts and frameworks from CSS, would be best described as a work situated within the sub-field of critical terrorism studies.