“Parallel Society” against “Values of the Republic”: Discussing France’s New Strategy of Combatting Islamist Radicalism

Abstract

This article describes the new draft law on combating Islamist radicalism that has been negotiated in France over the past few months. The author compares three documents in which the parliamentary commission of the French Senate, the President, and the deputies of the National Assembly of France, respectively, presented their views on the problem. As the analysis shows, all three documents consider as a threat not only religiously motivated violence but also the very spread of radical ideology, which leads to the separation of certain Muslim communities from the rest of society and the promotion of social norms that contradict the “values of the Republic”. Both the deputies and President Macron proposed a package of measures, including increasing control over private schools and home education; strengthening the power of secret services and the prefects of departments (administrative regions); and banning foreign funding of religious organizations. The “republican values” that the bill aims to protect become mandatory for both government employees and for non-profit organizations applying for state subsidies. The paper then discusses the heated public debate over the new legislation.