Intersectional Security Assemblages: Mapping Power, Discourse, and Policy in Counter-Extremism

European Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) and Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) policies have come under increasing criticism for their unforeseen effects, specifically the securitisation of French and German Muslim minorities. This study proposes an Intersectional Securitisation Theory (IST) model, building on traditional securitisation theory by incorporating intersectionality to analyse how religion, ethnicity, and socioeconomic standing intersect to produce securitisation discourses.Through qualitative analysis, the research discovers that CVE and PVE policies tend to unwittingly perpetuate structural inequalities and stigmatise marginalised Muslim communities.The policies disproportionately affect disadvantaged groups, further solidifying perceptions of alienation and exclusion.Utilising the IST framework, this research presents a differentiated explanation of how layered identities are entangled in security narratives.In addition, it suggests the theory of Intersectional Security Assemblages, which theorises how different actors such as state institutions, media, and civil society work together to build and spread securitisation narratives through interlinked networks of power and discourse.