Securitization and

De-securitization
Issue 3
 Content of the Course
• Securitization Theory (Copenhagen School)
• Definition of Securitization
• Securitization Process: Speech Act
 non-politicized issue
 Politicized issue
 securitized issue
• Components of Securitization
1. securitizing actor/agent
2. An existential threat
3. A referent object
4. An audience
Affected Sectors by securitization
• Military- Political-Economic-Society-Environment
Desecuritization
 Definition
• the process of state actors transforming subjects from regular political issues into
matters of "security": enabling extraordinary means to be used in the name of
security
• Securitized issues do not have to be existential threats
• successfully securitized subjects receive disproportionate amounts of attention
and resources compared to unsuccessfully securitized subjects causing more
human damage
• national security policy is not a natural given, but carefully designated by
politicians and decision-makers
• EX: Terrorism: a top priority in security discussions, even though people are much
more likely to be killed by automobiles or preventable diseases than from
terrorism.
 Securitization Process
• begins with a speech act concerning a particular threat
• Speech act: shift the threat from normal politics into a security concern: legitimating
extraordinary measures to contain the threat
• words do not merely describe reality, but constitute reality, which in turn triggers
certain responses
• Threats are constructed through language
• how has a specific language enabled the actor to convince the audience of the threat?
• by an authoritative national leader, institution, or party (elites)
• the securitization act must be accepted by the audience to be successful (society)
• Critical against materialist approaches: the material dispositions of the threat
including distribution of power, military capabilities, and polarity
 Securitization Process
1. non-politicized issue: the issue has not reached public debate
2. Politicized issue: the issue has raised public concerns and is on the
agenda
3. securitized issue: the issue has been framed as an existential threat
EX: Calling immigration as a threat to national security: shifts
immigration from a low priority political concern to a high priority issue
that requires action, such as securing borders
 Securitization Process
• legitimizing extraordinary means to solve a perceived threat: declaring a state of
emergency or martial law, mobilizing the military or attacking another country
• When an issue is securitized, actions are often legitimized under the language of ‘urgency’ and
‘existential threats’ and are measures that may be thought undemocratic in normal situations
• the securitized subject can be considered to be an illegitimate subject for political or academic
debate
• a negative process that undermines democratic processes
• reinforces militarized approaches to non-military threats
• Using the term «war» more frequently: the "war" on drugs, terror, or crime
• cause an overreaction by state actors
• create divides between ‘us’ and ‘them’: the othering process
EX: the War on Terror: the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, the use of torture, the increased
surveillance of citizens, extraordinary renditions and secretive drone strikes (the logic of exceptionality)
 Components
• involve four components
1. securitizing actor/agent: an entity that makes the securitizing move/statement (elites)
• a ‘securitizing actor’ has the social and institutional power to move the issue ‘beyond politics’
• national leaders, institutions, or parties
• Security professionals like the police, intelligence services, customs, immigration services, border guards
and the military
2. An existential threat: an object (or ideal) that has been identified as potentially harmful
3. A referent object: an object (or ideal) that is being threatened and needs to be protected
4. An audience: the target of the securitization act that needs to be persuaded and accept the issue as a
security threat
• attempting to convince an audience to lift the issue above politics
• An issue becomes securitized when an audience collectively agrees on the nature of the threat and
supports taking extraordinary measures (otherwise, securitization will be unsuccessful).
• the success and failure of securitization in the hands of the audience
 Affected Sectors
1. Military
2. Political
3. Economic
4. Society
5. Environment
• Securitization can involve more than one sector
EX: military intervention in Iraq
Military securitization: weapons of mass destruction
Political securitization: human rights abuses
Societal securitization: immigration and refugee issues
 Examples for Securitization Process
• The 2015 David Cameron’s speech
• we face a fundamental threat to our security from the threat of the Islamic State group, who attack us because of
who we are, and not because of what we do (the presentation of the nature of the threat and establishment of a
regime of truth).
• we should not wait any longer to reduce the threat (the point of no return).
• it is not about whether we want to fight terrorism but about how best we do that (the solution provided)
• The 2015 Francois Hollande’s speech
• France is at war against an army of jihadists that has attacked France because France is a country of liberty (what
and who we are)
• the Islamic State group is an organization that threatens the whole world and that this is the reason why the
destruction of Daesh is a necessity for the international community (a point of no return)
• immediate border controls and a state of emergency have been commanded (lifting the issue above politics)
 the number of victims in Western Europe was higher in the 1970s and 1980s as a result of groups such as the IRA
than the number that can be attributed to Islamic terrorists in recent times
 threat magnification demonstrates the exceptionality of the threat, which, in turn, requires urgent and
extraordinary responses
 Desecuritization
• a return to normal politics
• Elites prefer de-securitization process
EX: Kurdish Question in Turkey
• a de-securitization process from 2000 to 2011
• Kurdish question is different from terror threat
• the Democratic Opening in 2009
• a license to a public satellite television channel offering exclusive programming in the Kurdish language
• relaxed long-standing restrictions on Kurdish language’s use in election campaigns, prisons, universities and
mosque sermons
• allowing Kurdish institutes and language departments to open in universities in various Kurdish-majority cities
• elective Kurdish courses in private schools
• Dolmabahçe meeting between Erdoğan and the HDP: a solution in the formation of a new social contract with
peaceful representatives of the mainstream Kurdish rights movement
• an accord with the PKK between 2009 and 2011 (Oslo process)
 Conclusion
• the process of state actors transforming subjects from regular political
issues into matters of "security”
• begins with a speech act concerning a particular threat
• From non-political issue to political issue to security issue
• legitimizing extraordinary means to solve a perceived threat
• Components: (1) securitizing actor/agent, (2) an existential threat, (3) A
referent object, (4) An audience
• Affected Sectors: (1) Military, (2) Political, (3) Economic, (4) Society, (5)
Environment
• Desecuritization: a return to normal politics