Securitization Framework Research Articles

Contesting the Securitization of Migration: NGOs, IGOs, and the Security Backlash

Abstract Studies of migration-related security concerns have focused on the emergence of these concerns through securitization or their potential dissolution through desecuritization. This paper challenges the conventional view of these processes—securitization and desecuritization—as oppositional and mutually exclusive. Instead, it argues that they are imbricated in complex ways in an arena of contestation where actors vie for legitimacy and justify their claims through ongoing actions and reactions. Focusing on the Global South case of securitized migration in the Dominican Republic, this paper conceptualizes desecuritization not as a discrete outcome measured by success or failure, but as a dynamic process evolving through interactions with securitization. By examining the role of non-state actors in contesting securitized policies, the paper reveals that such contestation can paradoxically intensify securitization through a “security backlash” that delegitimizes these actors and discredits their rights-based claims. This dynamic underscores the “resilience” of securitization amidst persistent contestation. Ultimately, the paper demonstrates desecuritization as iterative contestation rather than static outcomes, emphasizing the agency of non-state actors in shaping security narratives and practices while acknowledging their limitations against powerful state actors. These insights from a study of South–South migration extend the application of the securitization framework beyond convenient Western contexts and challenge perceived geographic boundaries.

How to green the European auto ABS market? A literature survey

AbstractThis literature survey explores the potential avenues for the design of a green auto asset‐backed security (Green Auto ABS) by focusing on the European auto securitization market. In this context, we examine the entire value chain of the securitization process to understand the incentives and interests involved at various stages of the transaction. We review recent regulatory developments, feasibility concerns, and potential designs of a sustainable securitization framework. Our study suggests that a Green Auto ABS could be based on both a green use of proceeds and a green collateral‐based methodology.

Explaining populist securitization and Rodrigo Duterte's anti-establishment Philippine foreign policy

Abstract To the surprise of many, populist leader Rodrigo Duterte instigated major shifts in Philippine foreign policy. His antagonism against the United States and European Union, fascination towards the revisionist Russia and China, and disdain for international law and institutions were viewed as significant departures from the nation's orthodox stances. Drawing on Moffitt and Tormey's conception of populism as a political style, and Buzan, Wæver and de Wilde's securitization theory, we develop and test the populist securitization framework in the context of Duterte's foreign policy-making. We argue that populist performances are securitizing acts comprised of distinctly populist performative repertoires used by political leaders to frame and execute an ‘anti-establishment’ foreign policy with sufficient level of audience consent. Using discursive interpretative analysis, we examine the impacts of Duterte's populist securitization of the liberal West as a threat to Philippine sovereignty. We find that while populist performances function as securitizing acts that can reorient established foreign policy positions and biases, such performances lead to uncertainty and erosion of credibility amid institutional fragmentation and domestic political distractions. Thus, the sustainability of populist performances on foreign policy depends on reconciling the tensions and overlaps between the populist leader's varying audiences and their mass constituencies.

Variations in the intensity of the securitization narratives at the EU level: securitizing the European refugee crisis

This paper examines the narratives of the European Council, European Commission, and European Parliament regarding the European refugee crisis. Although the relevant scholarly research suggests that the EU Institutions held different perspectives about the refugee crisis, this paper argues that there was no such a clash of perspectives. This paper builds on the Copenhagen School’s securitization framework as complemented with subsequent methodological tools to support the author’s arguments. The findings suggest that despite the similarity in the views held by the main EU Institutions considering the refugees’ influx, there was a variation in the intensity of their securitizing narratives. Theoretically, this study develops an understanding of the importance of the securitization narratives’ intensity. Methodologically, this study introduces the Securitization Narratives Continuum, a research tool that facilitates the assessment of securitization. Empirically, this is the first study to interview and take into account the opinions of the securitizing actors.

Securitization of Energy Transitions in Estonia, Finland and Norway

Abstract This paper analyses the extent to which zero-carbon energy transitions are a securitized phenomenon in selected countries and what that means for sustainability transitions more broadly. Without taking a normative stance on securitization, we focus on the ways in which security is constructed through in-depth interviews with experts in the energy, security, and defense sectors in Estonia, Finland, and Norway. We use a securitization framework to study how securitization as a process is discussed by identifying “securitization moves.” The analysis is also connected to the literature on sustainability transitions: the zero-carbon energy transition can be depicted as a large-scale socio-technical transition related to environmental sustainability. Our findings suggest that energy transitions are securitized to an extent because we were able to detect all “securitization moves” in the interview data. The interviews showed different ways in which security is interpreted and what is achieved by its construction in specific contexts. For example, the identified threats were connected to preserving sovereignty in Estonia, the inability to openly discuss threats related to energy transitions created new concerns in Finland, and the connections between the two sectors were urgently and inescapably addressed in Norway only after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Dealing with a violent past and its remnants in the present: the challenges of remembering the wars in Chechnya in the Chechen Diaspora in the EU

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates how memories of a violent past are interpreted by different generations of exiles, particularly when the primary feature of memory in their homeland is forgetfulness. This occurs when the echoes of political and institutional violence from “home” perpetually reverberate in the diaspora, and when host societies have constructed a securitization framework that progressively redefines Chechens from victims to perceived threats. Based on the case of the Chechens living in the EU since the early 2000s and grounded in field observations and semi-structured interviews conducted from 2015 to 2022, this paper delves into a “conflict-generated diaspora” in formation. Our aim is to understand the intricate interplay of factors and dynamics that contribute to the construction of individual and collective memories of a violent past within the Chechen diaspora. We also consider the impact of transgenerational memory transmission and generational divides.

Debating diaspora: Securitization framework and the Turkish state's making of dissent abroad

A burgeoning scholarly interest in diaspora governance has recently established that state policies of engagement and mechanisms of control exist simultaneously. While the sending state aims at fostering relations with some groups, it devises strategies to monitor and control some others in diaspora. In explaining this discrepancy, the scholarship points at the heterogeneity in diaspora as well as state perception of political migrants as a security threat due to their role in long-distance opposition. Referring to the legitimacy of the political apparatus in defining their subjects, the literature indicates that migrants are framed as dissent when the political authority classifies them as such. This article contributes to the existing literature by examining how certain diaspora groups are politically constructed as dissent. Using securitization theory as an analytical framework and taking Turkish parliamentary debates (1960–2003) as a case study, this research explores the politics of establishing three major dissent groups in Europe, namely the communists, Islamists, and Kurds. The article shows that based on distinct narratives each category has its own course of construction though at times these processes occur simultaneously. It also demonstrates the agreements and conflicts among political parties over how to frame diaspora groups and the role of symbolic power as a constitutive element in the practice of securitization. Finally, it argues that while securitization rests on the symbolic power of political actors, under certain circumstances they do not need to occupy a position of authority as they can mobilize securitization despite being in the opposition.

Formation of Ideological (Official and Religious) Discourses as Basis for Ryacudu’s Securitization of LGBT Acts in Indonesia 2016 – 2017

Despite its existence in various local traditions, LGBT acts in Indonesia has recently faced notorious condemnation and abuse. This paper explores minister Ryacudu’s discourse formation in removing LGBT issue from normal politics into security sector, and whether such action has been successful in convincing audience that LGBT is indeed a security issue. In doing so, this study utilizes securitization framework to unravel the rationalization of removing LGBT into security sector and how it relates to Indonesian identity discourse. This paper argues that securitization of LGBT acts in Indonesia is an enactment of national and religious identity. LGBT has been re-constructed as a threat to national identity, thus, a societal security threat. This securitization is conducted by Indonesian government, initially started by Minister Ryacudu’s call to reject LGBT, which is then widely echoed among citizens. Statement from Ryacudu is the main speech act, supported by, utilization of religious values and national heteronormative identity as reference values to legitimize extraordinary measures to the so-called ‘LGBT problem’. The ‘extraordinary measures’ taken to ‘protect’ Indonesia’s identity include various sectors from education, communication and media, and commerce. Wide acceptance among citizen suggests that Indonesian government, especially Minister Ryacudu have successfully securitized LGBT issue in Indonesia.

Securitization revisited: contemporary applications and insights

The edited volume under review aims to show the shortcomings of the securitization framework and questions its core tenets. Overall, the contributors task themselves with answering the question of how the concepts of securitization and desecuritization can be usefully adapted to current security issues. Divided into three main parts and eight chapters, the contributors to this edited volume first review securitization's history and theoretical evolution. Second, they draw on three different empirical cases to highlight new features of securitization. Specifically, they show the role of new actors, such as NGOs and civil society, as agents capable of securitizing an issue. The book also underlines the emergence of new referent subjects, that is, new securitized or ‘to-be-securitized’ subjects, such as gendered violence, memory, etc. Interestingly, it demonstrates the interest of studying both these actors and these subjects in non-western contexts such as Morocco and Rwanda. The third and final part of...

Kada publika postane sekuritizujući akter: Promena bezbednosne paradigme u vreme pandemije COVID-19

This paper deals with a shift of existing security paradigm and proposes a revision of securitization theory in accordance with current security trends. These trends originate from the new practice of political and security communication, which predominantly relies on the Internet and digital networking. Authors presume that the expansion of the Internet, online media and social networks, has led to the emergence of a new type of securitization, whose core is no longer the state and its elites. Rather, it is conducted by digitally networked citizens. Such securitization, which operates horizontally in the world of digital social networks (and which is largely conditioned by the phenomenon of online virality) authors define as securitization “from below” and call it BTL (below the line) securitization. BTL securitization implies that citizens are no longer assigned the role of (relatively passive) audience, which is the case with the original securitization framework. On the contrary, they appropriate for themselves attributes of the bearer of the securitizing discourse, act as securitizing actor and develop their potential for the implementation of securitization measures. The described shift is currently most noticeable in the field of health security, where the action of so-called anti-vaccine movement gave the first tangible arguments in favor of the initial claim of this paper - the hypothesis of viral „dethronement“ of political elites from the position of the dominant securitizing actor. Anti-vaccination movement activities show another important feature of this new securitizing „trend“ - discursive identification of the state (as legitimate securitizer) with the threat that needs to be securitized. In other words, due to the introduction of unpopular measures to combat health threats (e.g., vaccination, quarantine and other types of social restrictions), the government itself is perceived as an existential threat. An illustrative example of this phenomenon is the viral “securitizing” narrative that began spreading among the citizens of Serbia, through social networks, after the outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic. © 2021 Institut za drustvena istraživanja u Zagrebu – Institute for Social Research in Zagreb Sva prava pridržana – All rights reserved.

The Commercial Banking Sector in Eurozone after the Pandemic: The Paths to Recovery

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to address the situation in the Eurozone commercial banks’ sector during the pandemic and the mechanisms of the COVID-19 impact on the sector. It discusses the decline of profitability because of the pandemic, the growth of non-performing loans (NPLs) in banking sectors of some Eurozone member countries, as well as the management of the situation. Design/Methodology/Approach: The literature review and meta-synthesis from extant studies was used. Based on the review, a causal link between the current situation in the Eurozone banking sector and the possible paths of its recovery were identified. Findings: Commercial banks in Eurozone were affected by the consequences of the pandemic situation, especially in terms of lending activity and profitability, what may lead to a considerable increase in non-performing loans. The diversity of the situation in different countries increases the difficulty of prediction. There are some positive, neutral, and negative scenarios possible to happen. It is still a great role for the banking authorities to manage the post-pandemic situation and to provide proper recovery plans, especially dedicated for those small and medium sized banks, which are not covered by the solutions provided by the banking union. Practical implications: The paper analyses the current situation in the banking sector in Eurozone. It also presents the possible scenarios in the future and the paths leading the banking sector to recovery. Such analyses are significant for the post-pandemic policies implemented both, on Eurozone and national levels. Originality/Value: The identification of the main problems in the Eurozone banking sector because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research findings may contribute to better understanding the need of implementation of bank recovery solutions, like the accomplishment of the banking union or the proposal of the securitization framework for banks’ non-performing exposures.

Responding to Covid-19

Beginning December 2019 in Wuhan in China’s Hubei province, Coronavirus (Covid -19) has overwhelmed the healthcare systems and affecting education, travels, events and the economies worldwide. Governments all over have taken or bracing themselves to take extraordinary measures to contain the threat. In some countries, the measures taken to contain the epidemic appear as putting the nation under a state of siege. Some governments are adapting rather extreme measures – complete lock-down of the cities, the provinces and even the country itself, school closures, travel ban, cancellation of flights. Questions are being asked about how much freedom we are prepared to give up, for how long and onto whose hands?
 
 
 The paper argues that with threats and vulnerabilities transcending national boundaries and challenging most advanced knowledge and information systems in this era of intense globalization, the need for harsh and often draconian measures can hardly be over emphasized. At the same time there could be problems and unwelcome consequences in putting too much power in the hands of the governments dealing with the threat for an indefinite period of time. In view of this, the securitization framework as put forth by the Copenhagen School could be a better tool to deal with situations of unexpected crises such as what SARS epidemic proved it to be or what Covid-19 would inevitably entail

Domestic threats and foreign policy agenda: a security perspective on Turkey’s Iran policy

ABSTRACT Starting from the Islamic Revolution, Iran’s regime had increasingly been presented as the external source of Islamic fundamentalist movements in Turkey, leading to the establishment of a security-driven atmosphere in bilateral relations. However, Turkish-Iranian relations witnessed a positive change in the 2000s. The impact of the security discourse of Turkish elites regarding Iran’s Islamic regime declined and a rapprochement process began. This research suggests that such shift in Turkey’s foreign policy agenda became possible with the desecuritization of Islamic fundamentalism in Turkey’s domestic politics. The article proposes a securitization framework to analyse the link between domestic politics and foreign policy. Accordingly, it asks ‘How did the desecuritization of Islamic fundamentalism in Turkey’s domestic politics influence its foreign policy towards Iran?’ It analyses Turkey’s Iran policy comparatively in the 1990s and 2000s by utilizing speeches of Turkey’s political elites, public opinion in Turkey, changing the domestic political structure and alterations in foreign policy practices of Turkey towards Iran.

How to do things with silence: Rethinking the centrality of speech to the securitization framework.

This contribution offers the first steps in a novel conceptualization of how international relations and security studies can provide an analytics of silence. Starting with an analysis of a paradigmatic use of silence in the field, Lene Hansen’s ‘Little Mermaid’, the contribution shows the limitations and issues with an analytics that concentrates on the meaning behind silences. Silence as meaning is problematic because analytically what is offered solely is the overinvestment of the analyst’s ‘horizon of expectation’ upon a sign that is not generally meant to be one. Mobilizing a feminist reading of pornography as speech act, the contribution shows how silence may also be performative, in the sense that it does something to a specific logocentric order at the heart of our analysis of the international or security. The contribution finally offers a possible way of thinking about silence as doing rather than meaning and shows how this can be a possible analytical path to invert our analytics of the international and security from the perspective of the state/the powerful to that of the subaltern.

Securitizing HIV/AIDS: a game changer in state-societal relations in China?

BackgroundChina has experienced unprecedented economic growth since the 1980s. Despite this impressive economic development, this growth exists side by side with the human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) crises and the persisting deficiencies in public health provision in China. Acknowledging the prevailing health problems, the Chinese government has encouraged the development of health non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to respond to the health challenges and address the gaps in public health provision of the government. HIV/AIDS-focused NGOs have been perceived as the most outstanding civil society group developed in China. Considering the low priority of health policies since the economic reform, the limitation of the “third sector” activity permitted in authoritarian China, together with the political sensitivity of the HIV/AIDS problem in the country, this article aims to explain the proliferation of HIV/AIDS-focused NGOs in China with the usage of the securitization framework in the field of international relations (IR).MethodsThe research that underpins this article is based on a desk-based literature review as well as in-depth field interviews with individuals working in HIV/AIDS-focused NGOs in China. Face-to-face interviews for this research were conducted between January and May in 2011, and between December 2016 and January 2017, in China. Discourse analysis was in particular employed in the study of the security-threat framing process (securitization) of HIV/AIDS in China.ResultsThis article argues that the proliferation of HIV/AIDS-related NGOs in China is largely attributed to the normative and technical effects of HIV/AIDS securitization ushered in by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (hereinafter Global Fund) observed in China. Despite depicting a positive scenario, the development of HIV/AIDS-focused NGOs in China generated by the international securitization efforts is largely limited. An internal and external factor was identified to verify the argument, namely (1) the reduction of international financial commitments, as well as (2) the fragmentation of HIV/AIDS-focused NGO community in China.ConclusionsThis article shows that international securitization weakened with the rise of Chinese commitment on HIV/AIDS interventions. In other words, HIV/AIDS-related responses delivered by the national government are no longer checked by the global mechanism of HIV/AIDS; thus it is unclear whether these NGOs would remain of interest as partners for the government. The fragmentation of the HIV/AIDS community would further hinder the development, preventing from NGOs with the same interest forming alliances to call for changes in current political environment. Such restriction on the concerted efforts of HIV/AIDS-related NGOs in China would make achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to foster stronger partnerships between the government and civil society difficult, which in turn hindering the realization of ending HIV/AIDS in the world by 2030.

Dancing with the Wolf: Securitizing China–Taiwan Trade in the ECFA Debate and Beyond

ABSTRACTSince Ma Ying-Jeou assumed presidency in 2008, he promoted an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) and Taiwan’s political rapprochement with China. However, the opposition party soon proposed a counter argument, claiming this agreement might produce severe negative consequences for Taiwan’s economy and sovereignty.This study presents a securitization framework to highlight both the KMT and DPP strategy in contesting the nature of ECFA despite the potential inflation of benefit. It investigates both the KMT and DPP securitization strategies under Taiwan’s political and economic contexts. A de-securitizing discourse, though might have been a convincing counterargument against ECFA, was underdeveloped by the DPP members. It also shows how the debate shapes the discourse in the Sunflower Student Movements in 2014, and led to the DPP’s subsequent change of securitization strategy.

SECURITIZATION OF SEARCH AND RESCUE AT SEA: THE RESPONSE TO BOAT MIGRATION IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AND OFFSHORE AUSTRALIA

AbstractThis article compares the law and practice of the European Union and Australia in respect to the search and rescue (SAR) of boat migrants, concluding that the response to individuals in peril at sea in both jurisdictions is becoming increasingly securitized. This has led to the humanitarian purpose of SAR being compromised in the name of border security. Part I contrasts the unique challenge posed by SAR operations involving migrants and asylum seekers, as opposed to other people in distress at sea. Part II analyses the relevant international legal regime governing SAR activities and its operation among European States and in offshore Australia. Part III introduces the securitization framework as the explanatory paradigm for shifting State practice and its impact in Europe and Australia. It then examines the consequences of increasing securitization of SAR in both jurisdictions and identifies common trends, including an increase in militarization and criminalization, a lack of transparency and accountability, developments relating to disembarkation andnon-refoulement, and challenges relating to cooperation and commodification.

Recursion or rejection? Securitization theory faces Islamist violence and foreign religions

This article contributes to the larger debate on how to increase the cultural sensitivity in IR analyses, and particularly how the securitization theory can face some of the criticism relating to its embedded-ness in the West. The article shows that the expanding empirical application of securitization theory by scholars around the world, as well as the theoretical expansion (the opening of the religion sector) raise two important, but different questions, which are about potential a) limitations in the applicability of the theory on non-western cases, and b) west-centric biases in the design of the theory. This article sheds light on both types of criticisms by asking whether securitization theory is applicable to study the case of religious violence as I have done in earlier studies of the Pakistani Taliban, and by evaluating the assumptions and consequences of keeping with a west-centric concept of religion. The article makes three points: First, it shows that the theory's meeting with the Islamist case challenge the theory's conceptualization of securitization as a defensive narrative only. Second, it points at the limitations in the way religion has been conceptualized by the theory's proponents. Third, it argues that dealing with differences in the interpretations of political realities is an important element of the call to increased cultural sensitivity, and in this endeavour the securitization framework would gain from elements of worldview analysis.

Clipper Meets Apple vs. FBI—A Comparison of the Cryptography Discourses from 1993 and 2016

This article analyzes two cryptography discourses dealing with the question of whether governments should be able to monitor secure and encrypted communication, for example via security vulnerabilities in cryptographic systems. The Clipper chip debate of 1993 and the FBI vs. Apple case of 2016 are analyzed to infer whether these discourses show similarities in their arguments and to draw lessons from them. The study is based on the securitization framework and analyzes the social construction of security threats in political discourses. The findings are that the arguments made by the proponents of exceptional access show major continuities between the two cases. In contrast, the arguments of the critics are more diverse. The critical arguments for stronger encryption remain highly relevant, especially in the context of the Snowden revelations. The article concludes that we need to adopt a more general cyber security perspective, considering the threat of cyber crime and state hacking, when debating whether the government should be able to weaken encryption.

HIV/AIDS in China and India: Governing Health Security, by Catherine Yuk-Ping Lo. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. xv+280 pp. £65.00/US$100.00 (cloth); also available as an eBook.

<i>HIV/AIDS in China and India: Governing Health Security</i>, by Catherine Yuk-Ping Lo. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. xv+280 pp. £65.00/US$100.00 (cloth); also available as an eBook.