La dénomination « combattant terroriste étranger » dans les actes non contraignants de la Commission européenne (2001-2018) : une normalisation fondée sur la menace ?

Abstract

This paper will analyse the emergence and prevailing use of the term combattant terroriste étranger (foreign terrorist fighter), in non-binding legal acts adopted by the European Commission from September 2001 to March 2018. We have taken a quantitative lexicometric approach, influenced by French discourse analysis, in order to encourage critical scrutiny of the terminology. In our view, the risk attendant upon continued wielding of an opaque, poorly-defined term, is that an unreliable framework may be set up for legal documents designed to be binding. Indeed, the vehicle for the nomenclature at issue is comprised of a range of declaratory strategies, which purport to rest upon a threat posed by the referent. The twofold perception that new legislation is urgently needed, and that consensus must be achieved, seems to have prevailed over another imperative, namely standardising the nomenclature so as to precisely elucidate what is meant by a combattant terroriste étranger from a legal and social standpoint, in order to avoid blurred and doubtful legal practice.