Legacy of 9/11: How the 'War on Terror' Propelled Europe's Far Right into Mainstream Politics

Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, the political order constructed in their wake continues to heavily influence Europe. The Global War on Terror (GWOT) provided far-right parties across Europe with the political prominence they had long sought and been denied. Islamophobic narratives that came to dominate global policy after 2001 legitimized an anti-Muslim racism that had already been simmering within Europe’s far-right circles for years.

Before September 11, far-right political parties in Europe were largely marginalized within the continent's multi-party systems. Even when securing significant electoral support, many remained stigmatized or excluded from government power, better known for anti-Semitism and nostalgia for fascist origins than as viable governing contenders. However, the political landscape had already begun to shift prior to the collapse of the towers. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the far-right's long-standing racism narrowed its focus specifically toward Islam. Parties such as the French Front National (now the Rassemblement National) and the Austrian Freedom Party identified Islam as their new “enemy within,” branding Arabs and Black communities in France, as well as Turks in Austria, simply as “Muslims.” Similarly, the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) argued as early as 1991 that Islam represented a threat to liberal democracy and hindered immigrant integration. By the late 1990s, Pim Fortuyn published a book titled Against the Islamisation of Our Culture, introducing a more explicit form of Islamophobia into Dutch politics.

The events of September 11 subsequently handed the far right an unprecedented opening. When 19 al-Qaeda hijackers crashed four planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, resulting in 2,977 deaths, President George W. Bush declared a “Global War on Terror.” The far right no longer needed to manufacture anti-Muslim sentiment single-handedly, as political speeches, media coverage, and military campaigns across Muslim-majority countries did much of that work for them. Although President George W. Bush insisted the conflict targeted terrorists who distorted Islam rather than the religion itself, subsequent rhetoric and policies routinely treated all Muslims as suspects. This framing cast the religion as inherently violent, helping to mainstream and globalize Islamophobia throughout the duration of the War on Terror.

President George W. Bush’s declaration that nations were either with the United States or with the terrorists left European governments with narrow room to maneuver. More than 13 European countries joined the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, with British forces actively engaging in combat. Additionally, twelve nations joined the invasion and occupation of Iraq, with the UK and Poland assuming major combat roles, while France and Germany chose to oppose the conflict. Across the continent, blatantly Islamophobic media coverage accompanied these military campaigns, reinforcing the image of a violent and threatening Muslim. Subsequent attacks by al-Qaeda affiliates in Madrid and London deepened the perception of an internal enemy, casting widespread suspicion on Muslims as potential threats.

While the far right largely remained out of power, European governments enacted their own Islamophobic policies, including countering violent extremism and deradicalization programs like the UK’s Prevent strategy. Governments also cooperated in hosting secret CIA black sites and facilitating rendition flights to Guantanamo Bay and other detention locations. These programs operated on the premise that Muslim religious belief constituted a dormant threat capable of turning into violence against the West. Guantanamo Bay emerged as the era's primary symbol of this logic, functioning as a lawless site where innocent Muslims were detained indefinitely without legal grounds.

Self-proclaimed experts on extremism and terrorism—such as Pamela Geller, Frank Gaffney, Daniel Pipes, and Robert Spencer—built careers validating this framework for American audiences before forging connections with strengthening European far-right movements. Together, they established the transatlantic “Counter-Jihad Movement,” uniting anti-Muslim organizations, political parties, writers, bloggers, and activists under the claim that Western civilization faced an existential threat from Islam. Beginning in 2007, this network utilized the OSCE’s annual Human Dimension Implementation Meeting to propagate its ideology within European and North American policy circles. Far-right leaders from Austria, Belgium, England, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and Norway gathered at annual counter-jihad conferences across the continent.

Years prior to Pamela Geller’s mobilization against the falsely named “Ground Zero Mosque” in New York in 2010, European counterparts were already organizing transnationally against mosque construction. The 2008 Cities Against Islamisation initiative united far-right leaders from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, France, and Italy alongside anti-Muslim activists from the United States. Over time, anti-Muslim mobilization yielded electoral successes. Operating initially as opposition parties, far-right movements gained momentum by pressuring mainstream rivals to adopt their rhetoric before eventually securing roles as coalition partners in national governments across Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Netherlands, Italy, Norway, Poland, and Finland. In Denmark and Sweden, they functioned as kingmakers, influencing policy from outside the official cabinet.

Anti-Muslim policies have continued to expand. Far-right parties, alongside pressured mainstream governments, have enacted numerous restrictions on religious freedoms for Muslims, including full-face veil bans, hijab bans for teachers, students, and public employees, and severe limitations or outright prohibitions on mosque construction. Consequently, Muslims—who comprise a disproportionate share of Europe’s working poor—have been pushed further to the margins. Even as more Muslims achieve educational and professional milestones, a securitized discourse rooted in the logic of the GWOT and merged with far-right “great replacement” conspiracy theories has adapted to target them. The historical accusation that Muslims refuse to integrate has been replaced by the assertion that successful Muslims pose an even greater risk by secretly subverting Western societies, mirroring the historical role assigned to Jewish populations as untrustworthy internal enemies.

Several governments have institutionalized this suspicion by directly targeting Muslim-led civil society organizations. Strict surveillance of mosques and NGOs, combined with curtailed civil liberties, has become standard practice across multiple European states, framed under initiatives such as combating “political Islam” in Austria, “Islamist separatism” in France, or “legalistic Islamism” in Germany. Under this framework, the only tolerated Muslim is the invisible individual who avoids claiming a seat at the table or protesting injustice. Ultimately, the language and infrastructure established by the Global War on Terror allowed these developments to take root and expand largely unchallenged. With much of Europe continuing to avoid confronting its histories of colonialism, racism, and fascism, Islamophobia has transformed into a widely accepted political stance cultivated by the far right for sustained success.