Application of the Securitization Theory in the EU Discourse on the Eurozone Debt Crisis

Abstract

Prior to the end of the Cold War, the concept of security has been expanded as no longer strictly related to military issues, but also to environmental, societal and economic matters. The theory of securitization argues that security is a socially constructed concept and that a securitizing actor can present any issue as a security threat through mere speech acts. Even though this theory has recently gained academic attention, its application, combined with discourse analysis in examining economic and monetary issues on a European level, has been limited. Drawing from this theoretical gap in the existing literature on economic securitization on the one hand, and in the discursive dimension of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) on the other, this thesis examines whether securitization moves have been attempted in the European Union (EU) discourse in the recent Eurozone debt crisis. The study uses discourse and content analysis to unveil the ideational patterns within the discourse coming from the President of the European Commission, the Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, the President of the European Council, European Council conclusions, the President of the European Parliament and the President of the European Central Bank. In addition to examining the presence and patterns of securitization in the official EU discourse, this thesis also investigates common trends and contradictions.