The racialization of radicalization and terrorism: Belgian political language on Muslims and Islam.

This article analyzes how Belgian political discourse over a 21-year period has racialized the concepts of terrorism and radicalization by closely associating them with Islam and Muslims. Using Critical Discourse Analysis of committee reports from the Belgian First Chamber of Representatives, the study finds that events such as the 9/11 attacks and especially the 2004 Madrid bombings intensified the framing of terrorism and radicalization as inherent to Islam, contributing to Muslims being constructed as a suspect community. While some political actors resisted this conflation, racializing language and policies targeting Muslims became widespread across the political spectrum, with the extreme right-wing party Vlaams Belang employing the most explicit racializing rhetoric. A narrative shift after 2017 incorporated other ideologies, notably extreme-right groups, into discussions on radicalization, but the term "terrorism" remained predominantly linked to Islam in political debates.