Knowra Securitization Securitization Securitization is the process of presenting an issue as an existential security threat so that an audience may accept measures beyond ordinary politics.
Speech act : An utterance that performs an action, such as promising, naming, or declaring. Securitization theory treats a security claim as an act that tries to change what politics permits.
Security : A condition or practice concerned with protection from threats to valued persons, entities, or ways of life. Securitization is a theory of how issues become matters of security.
Migration securitization : The framing of migration as a security threat to a state, society, or population. Migration is a prominent case for examining how threat claims support restrictive policies.
Traditional security studies : The study of security that has historically centered on states, military threats, and strategic relations. Securitization broadens analysis beyond material military threats to political acts of framing.
Critical discourse analysis : The study of how language and communication reproduce or contest power relations. It offers methods for examining who can make security claims persuasive and authoritative.
Existential threat : A danger presented as capable of destroying or fundamentally endangering a valued referent. Securitizing claims justify urgency by presenting a threat to something as existential.
Copenhagen School : A research tradition in international relations that developed securitization theory and a broad conception of security. Its scholars formulated the framework and its influential analytical vocabulary.
Climate security : The study of how climate change relates to risks for people, states, and international security. Climate threats raise questions about whether security framing enables action or narrows political debate.
Critical security studies : A diverse approach that questions whose security is prioritized and how security practices produce power and exclusion. It shares securitization’s critical interest in how security is constituted, while extending scrutiny to power and emancipation.
Audience theory : The study of how audiences interpret, respond to, and are shaped by communication. Audience acceptance is central, but theories differ on who counts as the decisive audience.
Show all 28