The 'deradicalisation' business

A spate of attacks in France since 2015 linked to the Islamic State (IS) group and al-Qaeda has seen the government unveil a succession of new policies aimed at tackling the issue of so-called "radicalisation", as well as a series of initiatives promoting its counterpart, known as "deradicalisation".

But insiders, echoing concerns raised in a French Senate report, are increasingly questioning the effectiveness and value for money offered by such schemes, which critics say are based on "fuzzy" definitions of radicalisation which fail to stand up to legal scrutiny.