The master thesis titled Italian Political Discourse and Securitization of Immigration: the Case of the Maghreb revolutions in 2011 deals with the issue of mass immigration waves reaching Italian shores and, in particular, the tiny island of Lampedusa during the initial phase of the so called Arab Spring. Its main goal lies in reconstruction and interpretation of the political discourse led by Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right government presenting the immigration crisis as a serious threat to national and potentially to European security. The first part introduces the general theoretical framework. The securitization theory of the Copenhagen School was used as an instrument for the thesis, including major criticism raised by the authors belonging to the social constructivist approach. In the second part, the author tries to characterize the basic historical and political context and clarifies the specifics of immigration in contemporary Italy. The last segment contains structuralized discourse analysis of the 2011 events and explores the extraordinary measures adopted and implemented in reaction to the government rhetoric at both the national and supranational levels. In this respect, the author pays special attention to how the process of negotiations finally led to the revision of the EU...

The submitted thesis called "The Relevance of Azerbaijan and Georgia in New Energy Geopolitics" deals with the topic of perception of energy security from the perspective of the European Union with special emphasis put on two southern Caucasian countries - Azerbaijan and Georgia. The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the topic by means of the constructivist approach. The theoretical framework is based on the redefined theory of securitization. The methodological basis is represented by the discursive analysis of the official documents issued by the European Union, embedded in the context of European Neighbourhood Policy and the Eastern Partnership initiative respectively whilst taking into consideration the external influence of the Russian Federation in the time period of approximately ten years, i.e. from 2003, when the European Neighbourhood was established, up to the present. The main objective of the submitted thesis is to assess the perception of energy security from the point of view of the European Union and to identify key contextual links and discursive themes that dominated the political discourse of the European Union in particular moments of the respective period.

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...

Following a period of civil unrest that occurred in Kazakhstan in January 2022, the Collective Security Organization (CSTO) unprecedently activated its collective defense mechanism to intervene in Kazakhstan. This thesis examines the course of events that took place in Kazakhstan and critically poses questions related to the CSTO’s military intervention. In addition, the study reviews the way Russian media projection of the Kazakhstani unrest demonstrates messages related to securitization. By drawing on securitization theory to conduct a critical discourse analysis of the audiovisual and textual representations of the unrest on the Russian broadcaster RT’s English-language YouTube channel, this thesis demonstrates that RT amplified securitizing moves made by Kazakhstani President Tokayev and Russian President Putin, which framed the unrest as an existential threat to Kazakhstan and Russia respectively. The study illustrates that President Putin securitized the unrest out of a concern that it may develop into a “color revolution” with possible ripple effects on Russian domestic politics, while Tokayev did so to convince the leaders of the CSTO to intervene in Kazakhstan. This thesis thereby not only contributes to securitization research, but also sheds light on the under-researched and regionally significant event that the Kazakhstani unrest constitutes.

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[pt] Este trabalho procura entender o que levou o Irã a passar de um papel de aliado ao de um inimigo dos Estados Unidos. Busca compreender como as hostilidades que passaram a existir somente entre Irã e Estados Unidos foram produzidas como uma ameaça para toda comunidade internacional. Na medida em que os Estados Unidos desempenham um papel de liderança nesta, um país que representa uma ameaça para os Estados Unidos passa a representar uma ameaça pública. O nacionalismo político Islâmico será apresentado como uma forma de resistência à lógica da modernidade. O ponto de ruptura entre estas nações ocorreu, segundo a visão norte-americana, no ano de 1979 com a chamada Revolução Iraniana – e, por conseguinte, com o sequestro da embaixada americana no Irã-, em contrapartida o momento de ruptura desta relação na visão iraniana se deu em 1953 com o Golpe de Estado que depôs o Primeiro-Ministro Muhammad Mossadeq. Também deve se levar em consideração que essa caracterização de um país como um todo, ou seja, sua política, religião, seus programas de desenvolvimento, etc como ameaçadores são um processo construtivo de valores. Este trabalho tenta desnaturalizar essa imagem ameaçadora que o Irã tem na comunidade internacional, que, cria as condições de possibilidade para práticas violentas dirigidas a esse Estado. Para isso, será utilizada a teoria pós-colonial, uma vez que os autores pós-coloniais acreditam que a dominação econômica do Ocidente sobre o Oriente, viabilizada principalmente pelo colonialismo, foi capaz de abarcar também a dominação cultural destes povos. / [en] This work seeks to understand what led Iran to move from a role of an ally to an enemy of the United States. Seeks to understand how the hostilities which now exist only between Iran and the United States were produced as a threat to all international community. To the extent that the United States play a leading role in this, a country that is a threat to the United States happens to represent a public menace. The Islamic political nationalism will be presented as a form of resistance to the logic of modernity. The breaking point occurred between these nations, according to the American view, in 1979 with the so-called Iranian Revolution - and therefore with the kidnapping of the American embassy in Iran , in return the time to break this relationship in Iranian view was in 1953 with the coup d état that deposed Prime Minister Muhammad Mossadeq. Should also take into consideration that this characterization of a country as a whole, their politics, religion, development programs, etc as threatening is a process of constructive values. This paper attempts to denaturalize this image "threatening" Iran has in the international community, which creates the conditions of possibility for violent actions directed to that State. This will be used to post-colonial theory, since postcolonial authors believe that the economic dominance of the West over the East, made possible mainly by colonialism, was able to encompass also the cultural domination of these peoples.

This master thesis explores the media representation of deepfakes. The first part summarizes previous research followed by a comprehensive review of deepfakes, including the technology allowing for their emergence, current uses and methods of regulation and detection. The second part connects the phenomenon with important theoretical concepts such as social construction of reality and the crucial role of media in this process. The empirical part consists of research combining two methods - quantitative content analysis and qualitative critical discourse analysis. The research analysis is focused on media articles dealing with deepfakes in order to find out how the media represent this phenomenon. The results show that current media discourse of deepfakes is strongly negative as the media frame them as a security threat. This negative representation is highly speculative since journalists often invent their own stories of future disastrous consequences of the technology for national security due to lack of current examples. The findings show an apparent hierarchy of the harms posed by deepfakes which is present in media coverage, and reflects gender sereotypes and inequality in the current society. Harm in the form of non-consensual fake pornography targeting women is neglected in the media...

The Arctic region is a region defined by change. Climate change, militarization and a growing interest from both Arctic and non-Arctic states are increasing the geopolitical significance for the region. As a consequence, concerns about the Arctic region's security and what threat the region might constitute have grown.  The following thesis seeks to study in which way the Arctic region is perceived as a security and defence concern by the Swedish government and state agencies in Swedish state discourse from first of January 2019 to the 19th of June 2023. By using arguments from the Copenhagen schools Securitization Theory, the thesis aims to understand to what extent the Swedish state discourse has securitized the Arctic region and what and/or who the is presented as security issues and defence threats. The findings argue that the Swedish Arctic discourse does not securitize the Arctic region, however, patterns of securitization could be found which indicate that the region might be securitized in the future. The Swedish Arctic discourse recognise several security issues and defence threats and present cooperation with other states as well as strengthen military capabilities in northern Sweden as countermeasures. This further indicates that the Swedish Arctic discourse recognise security and defence concerns connected to the Arctic region even if they are not presented by the terms of securitization.

U.S. Arctic foreign policy and the U.S. influence on Greenland has been studied predominantly regarding U.S. military and defence concerns. However, during the Trump Administration, the U.S. Arctic foreign policy agenda significantly shifted, placing Greenland as an integral component of the 2017-2021 Republican administration’s Arctic geopolitical aspirations, and not only for defence purposes. I argue that U.S-Greenland relations were significantly impacted when President Trump offered to purchase Greenland from the Kingdom of Denmark in the summer of 2019. Following the offer, Greenland emerged as a focal point of the Trump Administration’s geopolitical and economic security interests in the Arctic. Consequently, Greenland finds itself at the centre of a complex Arctic arena, with vastly larger and more powerful states taking an interest in Greenland’s economic potential due to its natural resources. Nevertheless, Trump’s offer was highly problematic as Greenland is an Inuit nation with the political goal to become independent from their colonial ties with Denmark. Despite the offer causing initial outrage, U.S.-Greenland collaborative relations have only developed since. I analyze why this has occurred, conveying that the similar approaches of Trump and Greenland towards climate change created the possibility for the strengthening of U.S.-Greenland bilateral relations. Climate change threatens the Arctic, yet the melting ice also provides more accessibility to rich natural resources. Climate change therefore presents not only threats, but opportunities. Greenland has a right and desire to pursue economic development for a financially viable independence through utilizing carboniferous, extractive industries. The U.S. has also sought to utilize the economic opportunity that Arctic climate change presents but with different motives. The U.S. and Greenland have subsequently become interlinked in a complex Arctic constellation of foreign policy and economic opportunity. Regardless of changing approaches to climate change, the Trump Administration has significantly impacted the future of U.S.-Greenland relations and Greenland’s political future. / Graduate