Academic literature on the topic 'Desecuritization'

Summary This article’s premise is that the practice of representatives of international organizations has something important to tell us about what it means to ‘do desecuritization’. The analysis provides a qualitative process-tracing of diplomacy by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE’s) High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM). It finds that ‘new diplomats’ can ‘do desecuritization’ differently. By rearticulating norms, as well as negotiating interests, the HCNM is able to escape the constraints imposed by security grammar and begin to transform the friend–enemy distinction within states. ‘New diplomats’ like the HCNM are capable of initiating such fundamental changes within states because their non-state platforms and institutional cultures transcend traditional international dichotomies of ‘us’ and ‘them’. These findings add nuance to our understanding of desecuritization as practice and suggest a novel methodological approach for studying desecuritization empirically.

This paper seeks to explain through an analysis using securitization theory, the dynamics of securitization and desecuritization of migration in Indonesia with a particular emphasize on the forced migration issues in the Southeast Asian region. This paper provides an analysis on the speech act represented in the legal documents or policy papers and the non-discursive practices demonstrated by the authorities in the security-related migration regulation and refugees protection. Both the occurrence of securitization and desecuritization is elaborated. The securitization is understood to take place when policy or legal documents as well current practices construct assumptions that migrants, including irregular or forced migrants pose certain threats to society. The desecuritization, meanwhile, is found in legal documents and practices that weaken the security claims regarding the migrants. It is argued here that desecuritization takes place in the midst of securitization and shifts the language of security of forced migration in regional level. The extent to which the perception of security threats imposed by the migratory process has been shifted can be reviewed in the policy changes by other individual states in the region and the international institutions working within regarding to refugees protection.

How do securitizing actors go about desecuritizing policy issues that have been securitized across multiple spatially bounded referent objects? Do such desecuritizations develop as a single or manifold process and with what political effect? And critically, how do we methodologically approach the study of such processes? These are pertinent questions that have been left underexamined in the (de)securitization literature. In seeking to fill this gap, this article makes two main points. First, it calls for a greater focus on the study of (de)securitizations that are constructed according to multiple spatially bounded referent objects, and on how these diverging strands of discourse and practice shape the overarching process. Second, it argues for a greater use of longitudinal methods of analysis as a better way to capture the evolutionary dynamics of desecuritization processes, which (re)constitute security policies and agendas. To illustrate these claims, the article considers the empirical case of Russia’s (de)securitization of insurgent threats since 2000 by tracing this process over a longitudinal period and across three spatial-referent objects, namely the local level: Chechnya; the sub-federal level: North Caucasus; and the national level: Russia.

Since HIV and AIDS were discovered in the early 1980s the infection rates have taken on the proportions of a global pandemic. Whilst the rates are still quite low in the Western World there are areas like Sub-Saharan Africa, of which South Africa is a part, where the rates are as high as 25%. In light of this a debate as to how the situation should be handled and dealt with has developed. In 2000 the United Nation Security Council debated HIV/AIDS as a threat tonational and international peace and security. This was the first time a virus or disease had been debated in this forum. The debate was instigated by, among others, the United States. If states in the Western World, where infection rates are still low, can view this issue as a threat to security, how are HIV/AIDS viewed in a country like South Africa with a prevalence rate of 25%? There are those who claim that in order to say that an issue poses a threat to security one has to define what constitutes a threat and define the concept of security. Is it a subjective value? Could a disease and/or a virus be declared a security threat and what would the logic behind that be? Following the end of the Cold War the study of security was developed as some scholars wanted to widen the traditionally state-centred and military concept of security and reconceptualize it so that it would be applicable to non- traditional security-threats. The theory of securitization was developed with this purpose. It introduces a security-concept that is shaped by a grammar of drama and urgency based in a logic of existential threats that call for measures beyond the normal code-of-conduct. Thus, studies into how military, health, social and political issues etc can be defined as issues of security, i.e. become securitized, are made possible. The aim of this thesis is to, through the theoretical lenses of securitization- theory and the discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, establish which meanings are involved in the structuring of the issue of HIV and AIDS in South Africa. Further we aim to establish whether these meanings can be related to a broader security concept, i.e. if there is a case of ‘securitization’ at hand. We have found, by analysing speeches given by government officials and key political documents between the years 1998 to 2002, that there are different trends in how HIV and AIDS have been defined, i.e. which meaning they have been given, and how these have been structured. Between 1998 and 2000 HIV and AIDS were seen as a threat and dealt with as such; they were securitized. In the years that followed we argue that there was a more cautious tone; the issue was desecuritized as the level of drama and urgency that had characterized the discourse of 1998-2000 was lowered between 2000-2002. The thesis acknowledges that it is too early to say whether this (de)securitizing move will succeed or not as time has yet to see the full effect of the move on a full desecuritization.

碩士
淡江大學
國際事務與戰略研究所碩士班
98
This research examines the impact of instability during democratic transition on military reform in Indonesia between 1998 and 2009. By applying securitization theory, which has a root in social constructivist paradigm, this research argues that both the act of securitization and desecuritization have played a certain degree of impact over the progress and/or regress of the Indonesian military reform. Arguably, the use of securitization theory, explanation on securitization – desecuritization dynamics, and the significant role of desecuritization has been never employed in explaining military reform in Indonesia. That would be the main contribution of this research. As its findings, first, this research shows that the act of securitization (enabling emergency measures and the suspension of normal politics) has always been an option when every attempt for desecuritization (removing issues from security agenda) failed. Second, options for desecuritization had always faced constant challenges therefore options for securitization had seemingly become unavoidable. Consequently, this fact has discounted the progress of military reform in the country. Third, the act of desecuritization is not compatible with a weak government whose pursue military support. The act of desecuritization would be in case if the government led by a strong leadership, which is identified by its independency from military support to stay in power. Fourth, however, the Indonesian military reform indeed took a place. Some achievement could be underlined and Indonesia’s position among countries having similar experience could also be set up. Finally, the main message of this research would be: there is no military solution for any domestic unrest. The main problem is not laid in military matter but more in political, economics, and socio-cultural realm. The use of military to solve this problem should be regarded as a series of civilian institutions’ failure to acknowledge the problem, to manage it, to prevent it from becoming escalated, and to solve it within normal political bargaining process. As the last resort, military engagement might be considered as an option. But, it has to be understood that military intervention should be temporary in nature, aimed to end the violence conflict, conducted in order to provide a room for peaceful conflict solution mechanism, and in accordance with just war principles.

The master thesis called Security of the Russian Federation: (de)securitization of the U.S. by Russian representatives deals with the security of Russia from the top representatives points of view. The analyzed time is determined by the presidential term of Dmitry Medvedev (2008 - April 2012). The aim of the thesis is to find out, why the U.S. was (de)securitized during the Medvedev's presidential term and confirm or disprove the predefined hypothesis. President, prime minister and minister of foreign affairs create the foreign politics of Russian federation. Their speeches and interviews are the main source of the data. The basic security terms and the theories (de)securitization are discussed in the first part of the thesis. The Russian point of view of security is defined in the following part. There are analyzed oficial documents focusing on definition of the national security, foreign policy and military field. There are also discussed the Russian media discourse since 90s of the 20 century and Russian- American relations. The last empirical part analyzes the interviews and speeches of the president Medvedev, of the prime minister Putin and of the minister of foreign affairs Lavrov in terms of their attitudes to the U.S.

Tese de doutoramento em Relações Internacionais, na especialidade de Política Internacional e Resolução de Conflitos, apresentada à Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra
Em menos de uma década, o problema da pirataria deixou de ser uma questão económica marginal, tratada através das relações rotineiras entre as companhias de navegação e as empresas de seguro marítimo, para se tornar uma questão prioritária dentro da agenda de segurança internacional. Em 2008, com o envolvimento inédito do Conselho de Segurança das Nações Unidas na gestão da violência privada no mar, foram aprovadas quatro resoluções autorizando o uso da força militar no combate à pirataria somali, inclusive dentro do mar territorial e em terra. Hoje, mais de trinta Estados estão com suas forças navais envolvidas no combate à pirataria nas águas do Corno de África (atuando isoladamente ou integrando uma das três coalizões navais internacionais presentes na região). O argumento central desta tese é que a pirataria somali foi submetida a um processo bem-sucedido de securitização que orienta a ação internacional para uma resposta coerciva e militarizada, focada na pacificação da violência direta no mar, sem levar em consideração o quadro sócio-político-económico mais amplo e complexo que faz da pirataria uma atividade atrativa na Somália. Em consequência, ainda que as operações navais em curso na região consigam frustrar grande parte das ações dos piratas, os incentivos e as conexões que sustentam a economia política da pirataria somali continuam ativos, fazendo com que o problema persista na região. Propondo uma abordagem mais abrangente, a tese coloca a pirataria somali e a intervenção internacional dentro de uma relação dialética que confronta duas abordagens antagónicas. De um lado, a pirataria somali é vista como uma ameaça existencial, como um perigo à paz e à segurança internacionais, o que submete o problema a uma lógica de guerra e privilegia basicamente um tipo de resposta: a militar. De outro lado, a pirataria somali é vista dentro de sua dimensão política, económica e social, levando em consideração as contradições sociais que estão na sua base, as condições históricas que a geraram e as suas conexões com a economia política local-regional-global, o que amplia o horizonte de análise para além da lógica de guerra imposta pela primeira abordagem. O objetivo dessa confrontação dialética é mostrar que a ‘minimização’ da segurança (dessecuritização), e não a sua ‘maximização’ (securitização), é a abordagem mais adequada à construção de um ambiente de paz abrangente e sustentável nas águas do Corno de África. Desse modo, a questão central a ser respondida na tese é: até que ponto a dessecuritização pode reorientar a abordagem do problema da pirataria nas costas da Somália para um sentido positivo, favorecendo respostas mais abrangentes e sustentáveis que sejam capazes de transformar os fatores e as dinâmicas que estão na base da economia política da pirataria somali? Adotando uma metodologia reflexiva – nomeadamente a abordagem reconstrutiva da teoria crítica – e uma perspetiva teórica eclética que combina três quadros teóricos principais – a teoria da securitização, a economia política das ‘novas guerras’ e a transformação de conflitos – a tese procura, em primeiro lugar, diagnosticar os fatores, as estruturas e as práticas materiais e discursivas que têm bloqueado a realização de uma ideia mais positiva da paz nas águas da região (dimensão negativa da reconstrução). Em segundo lugar, a tese procura diagnosticar as potencialidades transformativas existentes nas esferas local, regional e global, capazes de superar, ou ao menos mitigar, os constrangimentos anteriormente identificados (dimensão positiva da reconstrução). A confrontação dialética dessas duas dimensões, normativamente guiada pela ideia da paz sustentável, culmina na explanação crítica que permite identificar a securitização como mecanismo causal que bloqueia a transformação da economia política da pirataria somali, mesmo quando as respostas ao problema passam a ser articuladas dentro de uma retórica transformativa através do nexo segurança-desenvolvimento. A tese conclui, desse modo, que somente através da redução ou eliminação das pressões de segurança impostas por esse mecanismo causal (ou seja, através da dessecuritização) é que as potencialidades identificadas para a transformação da economia política da pirataria somali podem emergir, possibilitando uma realização mais plena da ideia da paz sustentável.
Within less than a decade, the problem of piracy ceased to be a marginal economic question, routinely addressed through the normal relations between ship owners and insurance companies, to become a top international security issue. In 2008, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) adopted four resolutions to deal with the problem, including authorization for international militaries to use force in combating piracy within both Somali territorial sea and land. Today, more than thirty States are engaged in anti-piracy operations in the Horn of Africa’s waters (acting individually or as part of the three international naval coalitions in the region). The thesis’ central argument is that Somali piracy was submitted to a successful securitization process which drives international mobilization to a coercive response focused on the pacification of direct violence at sea, neglecting the broad and complex socio-political-economic context that makes piracy an attractive activity in Somalia. Thus, although the ongoing naval operations are able to thwart most of pirate attacks, the incentives and connections sustaining the political economy of Somali piracy remain active, making the problem persist in the region. Seeking a more comprehensive approach, the thesis places Somali piracy and the international intervention within a dialectical framework that confronts two different approaches. On the one hand, Somali piracy is constructed as an existential threat, as a danger to international peace and security, which submits the problem to a logic of war that emphasizes one type of response: military. On the other hand, Somali piracy is seen as a social problem, taking into account its underlying contradictions, its historical conditions and its political economy, which extends the horizon of analysis beyond the logic of war imposed by the first approach. The purpose of this dialectical confrontation is to show that the ‘minimization’ of security (desecuritization), and not its ‘maximization’ (securitization), is a more appropriate approach to build a comprehensive and sustainable peace environment in the Horn of Africa’s waters. Therefore, the central question guiding the thesis is: to what extent could a desecuritization process reorient the approach to Somali piracy in a positive direction, fostering more comprehensive and sustainable responses capable of transforming the factors and dynamics at the base of the political economy of Somali piracy? Adopting a reflexive methodology – namely the critical theory’s reconstructive approach – and combining three main theoretical frameworks – securitization theory, political economy of new wars and conflict transformation – the thesis seeks, firstly, to diagnose material and discursive factors, structures and practices that have blocked the realization of the idea of positive peace in the Horn of Africa’s waters (reconstruction’s negative dimension). Secondly, the thesis seeks to identify transformative potentials existing at the local, regional and global levels, that could contribute to overcome, or at least mitigate, the constraints previously identified (reconstruction’s positive dimension). The dialectic confrontation of these two dimensions, normatively guided by the idea of sustainable peace, culminates in the critical explanation that allows the identification of securitization as a causal mechanism that blocks the transformation of the political economy of Somali piracy, even when responses are articulated within a transformative rhetoric. The thesis concludes, therefore, that only through the reduction or elimination of the security pressures imposed by this causal mechanism, via desecuritization, transformative potentials may emerge, enabling a fuller realization of the idea of sustainable peace.
FCT - SFRH / BD / 72879 / 2010