Danish vs. Muslim: (Re)Imagining the Citizen through Terror Law Prosecution

Abstract Liberal, pluralist European rights constructions protect freedom of religion and promise non-discrimination based on race. The rights and freedoms that form the basis of European governance are further protected under obligations stemming from membership in the Council of Europe (COE), Europe’s “guardian of human rights.” The COE’s European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) explicitly addresses freedom of religion and freedom from discrimination under Articles 9 and 14, respectively. Yet, these rights are challenged by recent Danish terror law jurisprudence, which has revoked citizenship through exclusionary legal constructions of Muslim belief and Danish belonging. This Danish case law has been unanimously upheld at the COE’s court, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). This article examines Danish terror law jurisprudence and its legitimation by the ECtHR in order to consider what this jurisprudence indicates regarding the question animating this special issue: who is Europe for? The article argues that the citizenship revocation elements of Danish terror law jurisprudence reify a neocolonial, illiberal, racialized notion of the state. This reification is occurring through law, and under the guise of the application of precisely those liberal rights constructions designed to permit plurality and constrain discrimination.