The discourse of terror: carceralism, border politics, and security in Aotearoa New Zealand

The discursive construction of terrorism in the media allows and limits possible policy responses. These constructions help set the precedent for modes of intervention and regularisation by the state by locating potential terrorists within the logic of security. Such a logic was a trademark of the so-called War on Terror and continues to be deployed around the world. This article examines the normative carceral discourse at play in the construction of terrorist perpetrators in Aotearoa New Zealand. Using the 2021 LynnMall terror attack as a case study, it investigates the limits of the New Zealand security dispositif that worked to construct the LynnMall attacker as a lost cause, incapable of intervention or rehabilitation. Drawing on insights from discourse theory, and critical discourse/dispositif analysis, it examines the resonant force between media discourses and the state's security practices. Through an examination of national media coverage, court proceedings, and policy documents, it assesses the discursive conditions within which terrorist subjects are constructed for the public and regulated by the state. In doing so, it sheds light on the mutually reinforcing yet contradictory discourses of carceralism and border politics that inform contemporary security practices.