Social inequality as a threat - Securitization with reference to Šluknovsko events Bc. Nelly Dederová Master's thesis Social inequality as a threat - Securitization with reference to Šluknovsko events deals with construction of so called "problem" of Šluknov region in connection to Šluknovsko events (two physical clashes in towns Nový Bor and Rumburk which happened in August 2011 and following series of protests, demonstrations and rallies which were lingering in Šluknov region towns until 2012), using theory of securitization made by Barry Buzan, Ole Wæver and Jaap de Wilde, who are representatives of Copenhagen school of security studies. The fact that participants of political and security discourse were referring to Šluknovsko events using securitization language (marking specific referent object as endangered, proposing exceptional measures and demanding their legitimized adoption) represents author's underlying premise.

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.

Dorota T. Moravská ABSTRACT: Diploma thesis "(De)securitization of the 'Jewish question' in Slovakia in the years 1945- 1948" examines how society in the post-war period approached the "Jewish question" from the perspective of the securitization theory. The thesis recognizes domestic and foreign dimension of the process and shows that in the society contradictory tendencies were present at the same time - while in the area of foreign policy people involved exerted pressure on the Slovak political elites to desecuritize the question, in the area of domestic relations the "involved public" took steps in the opposite direction. For this reason, the political elites were forced to face a (de)securitization dilemma. The thesis emphasizes the significance of social and historical context in which the process is anchored and in this light it observes the historical continuity of formation and development of the "Jewish question" in Slovakia, which is set in contrast to a radical change in the social context of the post-war period when the restitution of the Jewish property turned out to be a key factor influencing the course of events. As a result of post-war anti-Jewish moves and acts of violence against Jewish minority the "Jewish question" was politicized became a "necessity and urgency". Therefore the expected...

This thesis studies how securitization differs between the war in Ukraine and the war in Syria. It does so by comparing conclusions, statements and speeches published by the European Council in order to understand the perceived differences in crisis management according to their initial reactions. The aim is thus to compare the two crises to understand the European Union's different crisis management. Furthermore, this study uses a discursive analysis to investigate the European Council's reactions through securitization theory, which identifies how a political issue becomes a security threat. The findings suggest that the two crises illustrate different perceptions of the security threat and what to protect, highlighted in the diverse management. In turn, this means that the crises have been securitized differently, and the results have contributed to providing an explanation of the different management and understanding of the crises. Future research is encouraged regarding the effects of securitization and further exploring how the cases' differences affect the results to understand the two crises better.

The purpose of the essay is both to bring forward the threats images, sectors, actors and referents that can be found at the European border between 2007-2010 and to explore whether they change during this period. Furthermore, the essay also intends to review the Copenhagen School’s theory of securitization. The analysis of the essay will be done on the European commission’s “Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges”, a rapport that focus on the European border and its enlargement. The frame of analysis will be the Copenhagen School’s theory of Securitization with the acknowledgement of the critic brought forward by Johan Eriksson and Thierry Balzacq. The Copenhagen school brings forward with their theory, the importance of the discourse of security and thus presents actors and referents which are involved in the process. They also include different sectors in which the different threats images may appear. All of this will be crucial for my examination of the theory as a hole. Furthermore, the essay will modify its methodology to include some of the critic. The purpose is to test if the theory can give a satisfying view of the threat images, sectors, actors and referents at the European border, with a qualitative and a quantitative method. In conclusion, the essay found that the securitization actor during the period between 2007-2010 was the commission itself and the reference object was EU and indirect its members states. The functional actors was the organization PKK and the UN, who with their actions changes the security dynamic in the region. Furthermore, the threat images that was constantly present in the rapports, was organized crime which was consistent with the result that the most found sector was the military sector. These results can be linked to the work of Peter Andreas who argues that the American and European border have shifted from a military tasks to policing tasks. This task change is something that also can be related to Johan Eriksson’s work regarding the change of task in the Swedish security. My final conclusion is that the Securitization theory most be seen as a framework for analyses. Further discussions are need regarding the theories concepts. I notice there are three fundamental discussions that need to be focused on; the focus on the securitized threats images, the lack of including the context and the focus on the speech act.

[pt] O objetivo da dissertação é apresentar a contribuição da Escola de Copenhague para a área de estudos de segurança internacional. Para tanto, será discutida a história da área de estudos de segurança, o contexto histórico no qual a Escola é fundada e por fim, as críticas feitas às teses formuladas por esta. Entretanto, creio que no fim desta dissertação, será possível afirmar que além desta Escola ter contribuído para o desenvolvimento de uma importante perspectiva na área de segurança, será possível sustentar que sua contribuição também se estende para a área de teoria das relações internacionais. / [en] This dissertation seeks to introduce the Copenhague School`s contribution to the area of international security studies. It does so by discussing the history of security studies, as well as the historical context in which the School was founded. It will also be necessary to analyse the main concepts and theoretical perpectives developed by the School. Thereafter, it shall present the criticism levelled at the School`s theoretical and conceptual perspectives. At last, it will become clear that the School`s contribution has surpassed the area of security studies since it has also contributed immensely to the area of international relations theory.

The diploma thesis captures the contemporary security situation of Slovakia, identifies security problems by which it feels threatened, then goes on to point out whom and what Slovakia wants to protect and which strategy it plans to use in order to do that. At the same time it identifies the main insecurities of EU as a whole and those of Russia. These two powers are seen to play a major role in formation of relationships of amity and enmity, of cooperation and hostility in European regional security supercomplex of which, Slovakia is inseparable part. To describe and conduct analysis, author applies theories and analytical tools formulated by Copenhagen School. Most used were analytical frameworks and concepts of securitization, regional security complexes and sectoral approach to security.

This diploma thesis analyses the security dimension of South Korea's foreign policy. This analysis is lead by the tools of realism theory: security dilemma, arms races and definition of the state as the main security actor. These tools are considered to be more suitable for the explication of this topic than the tools of social constructivism represented by the so called Copenhagen school and above all its security complex theory. The aim of this thesis is to prove that in the security area of South Korea's foreign policy, security is still viewed in the traditional realistic sense of a one-dimensional military-political security rather than the multi dimensional view of security prevailing in the international relations area since the Cold War end. In this thesis, South Korea's role in the international system is depicted with the emphasis on the security field from the beginning of the 20th century to the contemporary era. Furthermore, the close security area (East Asian region) and direct security area (North Korea) of South Korea are examined. The last chapter consists of an analysis of official government documents concerning the security dimension of current South Korea's foreign policy.

The Biden-Harris administration’s discussion of climate change is analyzed during the transformative time of the administration’s first hundred days in office. The theoretical framework of the Copenhagen School of Security Studies (CS) is used to develop the coding frame to perform a qualitative content analysis of empirical material consisting of speeches and other documents of the administration. Several securitization moves have been identified and climate change has been presented as a security issue and an existential threat by the Biden- Harris administration. A wide range of referent objects are identified, which is the people and things presented to be threatened by climate change. The whole world, ecosystems, the American people and future generations are a few of the identified referent objects. International and national solutions are presented, though the solutions are not interpreted as extreme measures as discussed by the CS. Therefore, this study supports the critique of a too narrow definition of securitization by the CS.

This Master's thesis dealt with securitization attempts related to the planned construction of a new reactor at the Dukovany NPP. Therefore, its aim was to find, analyse and explain securitization speech acts associated with the planned reactor, in the period from summer 2015 to December 2020 using the critical discourse analysis approach. The results show that securitization speech acts of this kind do appear in the Czech public sphere and are articulated mainly by four groups of actors: representatives of Austria, Czech environmental NGOs, Czech governmental representatives, and Czech political opposition. These actors have different goals: to stop the construction of the reactor, to implement the construction of the reactor, or to influence the way in which the construction will be implemented. One case of successful securitization was found in the outcome: The Czech government was able to enforce extraordinary measures that deviated from standard democratic processes using security-based arguments. Their goal was to implement the construction of the reactor. It remains to add that the research also revealed three important functional actors who co-created the discourse: the BIS secret service, the SÚJB nuclear safety office and the company ČEZ.