Following the fall of the Islamic State, thousands of former IS fighters took refuge with their children in the camps of Al-Hol and Al-Roj where they have since been detained in degrading conditions by local authorities. In the camps are there about 27,500 children of foreign nationalities. Like the Lost Boys in Peter Pan, these children are left unclaimed as their respective countries hesitate to repatriate them. As such, the traditional understanding of children as innocent and in need of protection is defied. Drawing on the Copenhagen School of security studies and Edward Said’s theory of orientalism and employing a method of double reading, this essay examines how the political discourse in France on the Other enables the securitization of children by association with IS fighters. The analysis finds that the securitization theory can establish that the children are securitised, but it is insufficient in explaining how association facilitates the securitization process. By deconstructing the discourse through orientalism, the force of the association driving the securitization is understood through structures of power, defining the children as future threats to the republic as barbaric Others.

In this thesis, the role of Legal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) in the German institutional-political landscape is examined. The effort guiding the thesis is to uncover and understand how LAWS have been constructed in the German institutional-political discourse from 2017-2021. The field of LAWS is comparatively under-researched due to their recent emergence and highly contested spread as a weapon of choice. By trying to answer how securitization is taking place in German political-institutional debates surrounding LAWS, the aim is to better understand the different discursive elements of securitization in the specific German context. Building on the elements of defining the securitizing actor and referent subject, evaluating which discourse elements contribute and limit a securitization of LAWS and how suggested policy measures are tied to other discourses allows for a multileveled understanding of the issue at hand. What is clear is the need to further expand research in this field with the goal of contributing to the larger body of literature within Peace and Conflict Studies, detangling present discourses and suggesting potential policy paths. Finally, the conclusion drawn in this thesis suggests that both a technological discourse and discourse of threat of other actors contribute toward securitization of LAWS while a liberal economic discourse limits the securitization of LAWS.

This thesis examines the process of securitization in the relationship between Israel and Iran during Benjamin Netanyahu's second term as Israeli Prime Minister, specifically the period between taking office in 2009 and the conclusion of the nuclear deal with Iran in 2015. The aim of the paper is to analyse the process by which Netanyahu has made Iran such a major security threat that the whole world should be concerned about it. The thesis examines the international dimension of this issue, that is, Netanyahu's speeches that were targeted at an international audience, in some cases especially at an American one, since the United States has been Israel's closest ally since the creation of the State of Israel. The thesis is divided into a theoretical part, which focuses mainly on the theory of securitization, on which the entire work is based, and an empirical part, i.e. the actual analysis of the speeches transcribed into textual form. The greatest emphasis in this analysis is placed on the linguistic devices used, the choice of words and the setting of facts, events or actions in the context chosen by Netanyahu. The analysis of these speeches is intended to reveal the way in which Netanyahu wanted to make Iran a literal existential threat not only to Israel, but ultimately to the whole world,...

Since securitization processes are agued to be able to create excessive power to actors, there are arguments that claim that securitization is a negative process. By combining aspects of the original securitization theory with Juha Vuoir’s theory of illocutionary force, this thesis makes an attempt at finding what different actors claimed was threatened in their respective securitization of the issue terrorism. The motive behind the actors are also investigated and argued to be made visible through the different speech acts each actor employs when trying to securitize an issue. The thesis concludes that all three securitizing actors use some traditional notions of what is being threatened, namely the state. However, they are all found to use less traditional referent objects in addition to the state. The thesis also concludes that the motives of the different actors are found. These are showcased through the president of the USA trying to create deterrence for attackers of his state and trying to create control on the international arena. The High Representative of the EU, trying to legitimize future acts of more integration in the Union. Finally the World Health Organization’s motive is argued to have been to put the issue on the agenda.

The purpose of this thesis is to study the way the European Union and Sweden respectively frame the subject of cybersecurity, to see whether their framing differs and what consequences that may have. In order to study this, the thesis will study the cybersecurity strategies of the European Union and Sweden through a discourse analysis according to the Copenhagen school’s theory of securitization. The purpose is to see what the two actors define as the object that needs to be secured, what threatens said object and what measures should be taken to secure it. To study the cybersecurity strategies, data will be gathered from the European Union’s Cybersecurity Act of 2019 and Sweden’s six cybersecurity priorities, alongside other policy papers deemed relevant. The two points will then be compared in order to see how the framing align or contrast, to see what consequences that may bring.

The rise of 'information disorder' that undermine Western political principles has become one of the key political concerns in current Europe and United States and led to searching for new solutions how to fight the spread of mis- and dis-information. While the nature of this danger is still subject to much debate, we can already observe a rise of new experts explaining the threat of information war and how to deal with it. This research looks at how this novel problematization of security affects the politics of security expertise. Or, who gains power in this 'battle for truth'? Building on sociological approaches in security studies, this thesis focuses on the Czech Republic as a country that has become very active in the fight against disinformation and analyses the network of actors recognized as providing security expertise on information warfare. Based on social network analysis, the research maps the structure of social relations among actors recognized as experts and points out the empowerment of think-tanks and journalists, who build their expertise by bringing together their social capital, bridging knowledge of Russian politics and the new media environment, and introducing new practices to make the society resilient towards information warfare.

This thesis aims to explore the spread of populist propaganda on social media on the case of the Dutch politician Geert Wilders and Twitter. The research questions of this thesis focus primarily on the message that is being spread by Mr. Wilders and his followers, the way his followers react to this content and the attempt to securitize Islam through populist propaganda. The thesis uses the methodology of discursive thematic interpretation to analyze the narrative that is being spread. In order to collect data for this analysis, the analytical tool NodeXL Pro has been employed. This tool made it possible to not only collect data and identify the people interacting with a theme, but also visualize their position within the network. The thesis uses datasets collected by NodeXL for the discursive thematic interpretation of data. The analysis itself is divided into different sections, first analyzing the content shared by Geert Wilders and identifying the themes and reconstructing the narrative. Next, the analysis moves on to more specific subsections, such as important hashtags or examples of active users from Wilders' proximity. NodeXL was also helpful in modelling the networks and discovering the echo chambers formed around Geert Wilders.

The aim of the thesis is to analyze the current state of policies proposed to address the issue of radicalization in Europe. More specifically, the thesis deals with the topic of the fight against radicalization through education. The paper highlights how security debate in Europe is changing the understanding of educational institutions and their role in anti-radicalization policies. In the past, states in Europe had to deal with various forms of violence caused by either separatist movements or other radical and extremist ideologies. Unfortunately, the problem of the occasional outbreak of violence has not been resolved yet in Europe. In relation to the theme of radicalization, the role of educational institutions is perceived as significant to counter the process. They are considered to be the main institutions able to support the social inclusion and critical thinking of students during the globalization and modernization of Internet technologies. For these reasons, educational institutions should be responsible for protecting European students and pupils and preventing them from being drawn to extremism. This work, however, points out that this understanding is not the only way promoted by governments to tackle radicalization through the sector of education. The role of educational...

Diploma thesis is focused on the issue of the information warfare in context of debate about modern warfare. Firstly, thesis presented the debate of modern ways of warfare, which consists concepts such as hybrid warfare, non-linear warfare etc. Then presented three main concepts of information warfare in the context of this debate and within the three centres of contemporary power in the world (West, Russia and China). Western concept clearly separating war and peace, Russian complex concept of hybrid-information war and Chinese concept of three warafres. Subsequently, the thesis develops a thesis on the securitization of information warfare in the western environment (EU and NATO states). Securitization is understood as a rhetorical act that presents a phenomenon as a major security threat. In the context of the West, the information warfare has been to some extent securitized. This whole securitization is problematic if we look at the information warfare as a normal state of international relations, which are inherently conflicting and anarchic.

HIV/AIDS is for many decades one of the major global health issues. It has, therefore, attracted attention of scholars from different fields of study, including security studies. This Master's Thesis seeks to contribute to debates surrounding the issue of securitizing the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The main aim of this thesis is to apply the Copenhagen School's theoretical framework on the case of HIV/AIDS, evaluate the possibility of explaining the international reaction to the pandemic through securitization, and assess whether or not the HIV/AIDS was successfully securitized in South Africa, mainly through effort of the relevant international actors. The case of the Republic of South Africa was chosen because it is one of the worst affected countries by the disease in the world. After discussing the Copenhagen School's securitization theory and its critics, the origins, progression and nature of the disease is explained. The thesis then proceeds with the description and examination of the current state of the epidemic in South Africa as well as the negative influence the segregation and apartheid policy had on the perception of the disease and its spread. The thesis looks at possible securitizing actors of the issue and analysis their discourse in the search for securitizing moves associated with...