Securitization: Theoretical Underpinnings and Implications

The introduction of ‘securitization’ has aimed at putting emphasis on the construction of intersubjective understandings, within discursive processes, pointing to a threat and subsequently justifying exceptional measures. The chapter tackles the role of this concept in international relations and particularly security studies, offering an overview of its theoretical pathways and challenges as well as of the interplay among several standpoints (e.g. constructivist, critical, post-structural, etc.), within the Copenhagen School and beyond as well. Securitization has been basically linked to security as a speech act and to the facilitating conditions which make it more or less likely. However, further elaboration has been called for, often entailing a diversified reading of theory’s content, function and ontological underpinnings. Notable examples relate to the comprehension of securitization as an ideal type or as a concept affecting the relation between security and identity and to its expansion to something more than a speech act. Overall, new impetus has been given to security studies, through a varied discussion of securitization and its features, reflecting the diversified trajectory of IR theory.