Islamophobia and Translations of Securitization in the UK, France, and Italy

The book demonstrates how the intricated and seemingly nation-specific processes of translation of the securitization of Islam undergird a broader pattern: a rightward shift among centre-left parties (i.e. Labour in Britain, the Socialist Party in France, the Democratic Party in Italy) in their approach to Islam and security issues.

Islamophobia and Translations of Securitization in the UK, France, and Italy develops an alternative framework for studying Islamophobia and the securitization of Muslims. Gaudino integrates cross-disciplinary resources to investigate how and why European Muslims are often portrayed as a security threat by both right and left-wing political parties, exploring research on Islamophobia in the West, critical studies on security and terrorism, and scholarship on the normalization of far-right racism across the political spectrum. Using the United Kingdom, France, and Italy as case studies, Gaudino takes a close look at the gradual evolution of discourse surrounding Islam within three major parties: Labour in Britain, the Socialist Party in France, and the Democratic Party in Italy. In analyzing official documents and speeches released by British, French, and Italian policymakers, he finds that Islamophobia varies by national context and political ideology, particularly in cases related to immigration, counterterrorism, and citizenship policies. The framework therefore challenges the prevailing scholarly narrative regarding the convergence of political parties to the ''centre'' in the post-1989 democratic West, showing that in the case of Islam, both the mainstream Right and Left have, in fact, moved further to the right.