Others as Security Threats

Securitizing Discourses, Social Magic, and the Bureaucratic Field

Bibliographic Data

ID22201728
AuthorsКсения Сергеевна Григорьева (0000-0002-7761-7792, Institute of Sociology, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume8
Issue2
Pages418-442
Publication date2024-07-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueChanging Societies and Personalities (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2587-6104 • E-ISSN: 2587-8964
PublisherUral Federal University (PUBLISHER • RU)
DOI10.15826/csp.2024.8.2.281
OpenAlexW4400896996
LanguageEN
References cited20

For over 20 years, there has been an ongoing debate about what is primary in the process of securitization—discourses or practices. Traditional research on securitization tends to analyze discourses and practices separately, which can be seen even in studies that attempt to combine these two approaches. In this context, the concept “discourses” refers to a wide range of public political statements, while the concept “practices” mainly refers to the strategies of security professionals. I argue that, in order to gain a better understanding of securitization processes, the research focus should be narrowed to first-order securitizing performatives and the related securitizing practices. This approach will highlight political statements that can genuinely alter social reality, bridge the gap between discourses and practices, facilitate the analysis of institutional mechanisms of securitization, and help obtain much new relevant empirical material. The potential benefits of the proposed approach are illustrated through the analysis of two cases: the Italian case and the Russian case. For the Italian case, the analysis includes declarations of states of emergency related to the exacerbation of the “nomad issue.” For the Russian case, it examines legal acts stipulating the official recognition of migrants as prone to terrorism

Bureaucracy · Business · Critical security studies · Epistemology · Performative utterance · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Securitization · Sociology · Terrorism · Global Security and Public Health · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research