TikTok a Chinese-based social media application, in the last five years has reached global success. It became the first non-American application to reach such massive popularity. This has sparked controversy in the US. Recent studies have highlighted the benefits and disadvantages of this social media app. This thesis goes further and explore the debate regarding a foreign social media, by analyzing the discussion surrounding TikTok in the US through the lens of securitization and riskification. Securitization is a theory developed by the Copenhagen’s school and the latter is a theory developed by Olaf Corry. Both have been adapted in this study to create a specific analytical framework. A case study coupled with a qualitative content analysis has been the method used to analyze political statements, news articles, and reports to be able to answer the research questions. This study finds that the political debate surrounding TikTok in the US presents more riskification’s elements than securitization’s ones. Specifically, the application has been considered more a risk than a threat to national security. The research paper concludes with a discussion and interpretation of the risk posed by the application, in which banning the application is not the solution but finding a more comprehensive legal framework for data privacy and security.

This thesis investigates the terrorist designation issued by Israel against six Palestinian civil society organizations in 2021. The organizations are based in the West Bank and remain designated as terrorist organizations according to Israeli law, despite rejections and condemnations by the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN), and the United States (US). The investigation builds on an interpretive approach and in-depth semi-structured interviews with five of the six designated organizations. By using the theory of ontological counter-securitization to investigate a case of shrinking civic space, this thesis brings the theory to a new context. Given that the context of Palestinian civil society is understudied, the aim is to contribute new context-specific findings as well as theoretical knowledge. More specifically, this approach is aimed at better understanding views and means of resistance among the interviewed organizations. The findings show that the five organizations view their terrorist designation as a way to defund Palestinian civil society. It is further implied that the terrorist designation has impacted the organizations' relationship with their donors. To maintain their work, the organizations have undertaken a form of risk management. The analysis also shows that enhanced recognition, cooperation and conviction have constituted means of resistance. The main finding of the analysis concerns the construction of a new identity among the designated organizations. It is argued that this identity construction is a specific form of resistance against the shrinking civic space. The findings are central to enhancing the understanding of how security practices are resisted in asymmetric power relationships.

This thesis studies news media published by Lithuanian, Polish and Russian news outlets on the Suwałki Gap and the Kaliningrad Oblast. It analyses whether and how these online news articles portray a risk for conflict in this geopolitical area for English-speaking audiences. The methodology uses qualitative content analysis and a theoretical framework based on the theory of strategic narratives and both the Copenhagen School approach and the sociological approach to securitization to code the content that has been published. The timeframe spans from 2021 to 2023, which corresponds to the Russian and Belarusian ‘Zapad exercises’ in the region. Analysis of the online news articles finds a series of narratives. Some confirm that Russia’s main goal is to either justify Russian (military) actions towards ‘the West’, or to spread chaos through malign information influence. Others, against the expectations of the literature, show that Polish and Lithuanian uses of securitization are significantly different, especially due to a different kind of portrayal of vulnerability in the securitization process. However, the large-scale invasion of Ukraine has also caused strengthened (military) cooperation between the two countries. This study contributes to developing a better understanding of securitizing narratives that national and state-owned media outlets use to portray risk, especially when Russia is involved.

Sweden has long been known for an extensive and generous migration policy in relation to the rest of the European countries. Since the 2015 migration crisis Sweden took a turn by implementing several measures in order to restrain the comprehensive immigration. The topic of migration has since been highly debated, not in the least within parliamentary debates. Thus the purpose of this study is to examine whether three of the Swedish parliamentary parties the Moderates, Social Democrats and the Sweden Democrats use a securitizing discourse on the topic of migration in parliamentary debates during the years 2019, 2020 and 2021. The essay used a qualitative text analysis to conduct the study. The results showed that a securitizing language was used by the Moderates and the Sweden Democrats while the Social Democrats showed little to no indications. The analysis of the two securitizing parties could also confirm their use of two specific securitizing strategies. The study also concluded that the general migration discourse of each of the securitizing parties showed an increase of strengthened positions towards refugees through the analyzed years.

In the last 12 years, since the devastating attack on the United States Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, the global community has become increasingly wary. The continuing terrorism on July 7, 2005 on the United Kingdom subway system increased tensions between citizens and immigrants in these countries. I use these two countries to examine the consequences effects that these terrorist attacks have had on, in particular, the Muslim immigrant population. In addition to that, I use Germany as a control, since it has not faced a major terrorist attack, yet has a substantial Muslim immigrant population. In the United States and United Kingdom, I use public opinion data polls and immigration policies before and after the attacks. In Germany's case, I utilize the same data and to assess any correlation to the other two countries data. Using the literature already written, public opinion data polls and policy initiatives enacted before and after these attacks, I examine the overall effect, if any, on the Muslim immigrant population in these countries. The intent of this thesis is to explore if the significant changes in immigration policies after the attacks have occurred due to economic or cultural factors. Because public opinion is central to policy changes, I also consider the implications of public's views on immigration after the attacks, along with the effect all this has on the number of Muslim immigrants entering these countries.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka huruvida Sverige och dess styrande organ har lyft fram utvecklingsfrågor som ett hot mot säkerheten enligt de kriterier som jag har valt att plocka ur Securitization Theory. Detta har jag gjort genom att undersöka officiella dokument från riksdag och Försvarsdepartement.Jag har använt mig av den konstruktivistiska metodologin eftersom den synen på världen till viss del sammanfaller med några av grundtankarna i Securitization Theory. Jag har använt mig av en kvalitativ metod när jag har undersökt min frågeställning och försökt besvara den.Jag kommer argumentera för det resultatet som jag har funnit, att man kan svara besvara min frågeställning enligt de kriterier som jag har satt upp i för utförandet av min uppsats. Genom att sammanfatta vad jag kommit fram till i helhet med mina nyckelfaktorer argumenterar jag för att Sverige har tagit steget från att låta utvecklingsfrågor vara politicized till securitized. / The purpose of this paper is to examine if the Swedish government has elevated development issues as a security threat according to the criteria I have decided to use from Securitization Theory. I have done this by researching official documents from the government and the Ministry of Defence.I have used the constructivist methodology because of their perception the world to some extent overlap with some of the basic ideas of Securitization Theory. I have used a qualitative method when I have investigated my question at issue and tried to answer it.I will argue for the results that I have found that one can answer my question as to the criteria I have set in for the performance of my thesis. By summarizing what I have come to the whole of my key factors I argue that Sweden has taken the step of allowing development issues to go from being politicized to securitized.

This research deals with the question of how detention of foreigners and the creation ofdifferent forms of detention centers have been rendered possible in the context ofSweden, from the early 1900s up until today. A qualitative content analysis is used toexplore four periods, in terms of the motivations and regulations that produce“detainable categories”, as well as the logic behind such practices of encampment.Drawing on the concept of the “state of exception”, and by using policy documents, thisresearch argues how the Government by gaining extended powers in different periods oftime justifies and regularizes the detention of foreigners. This has been done for thesake of security of the state, protecting the welfare and wellbeing of the nation. Thistells us that the creation and production of detainabilities is not only related toexceptional situations, but becomes the normal condition of the existence of the nationstate.

Canada took part in NATO's mission to restructure Afghanistan. The coalition removed the Taliban Government and made-way for a new Afghan Authority. Canada and its NATO allies identified the predominant issues it considered in the planning and implementation of its intervention. This thesis analyzes these assumptions and the influence they had on the construction of the intervention. It problematizes the concept of security, and builds a matrix of security concerns based on the social structures that compose the local and international actors in Afghanistan: namely NATO, Canada, and local Afghan perspectives. It seeks to outline the shared understanding and expectations of the Alliance, the resources which it has allocated, and the practices that have resulted from the intervention to this day. The analysis aims to identify which sectors are primarily made referents of security policies in the context of Canada's renewed role in international relations and the duality of humanitarian development and military intervention. The study will take into consideration the experience and interests of the observed actors and ask whether the reference of an international actor to the security concerns of a domestic actor is adequate. This research seeks to showcase the utility of the constructivist framework in understanding the plurality of identities. It identifies the fault lines between outsiders and insiders within the context, and the ways by which the construction of security changes from one social-structure to another. It considers the interaction issues related to the agent-structure question, by identifying issues of dominance by specific actors, the militarization of the context, and the ordering of security-values by different actors.

The purpose of this study was to explore the securitization of communicable disease in the case of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa 2014. Applying the Copenhagen School’s theory of securitization, this thesis conducted a discourse analysis of speech acts occurring at different levels of the global community in relation to the outbreak. The focus lay on two major events, namely the UN Security Council meeting on 18 September 2014 and the UN high-level meeting on Ebola a week later. Investigating to what extent the securitizing discourse apparent in Resolution 2177 which identified Ebola as a “threat to international peace and security” was upheld and justified by the speakers at these events, this study determined that Ebola virus disease has been “successfully” securitized on all levels of global governance. Despite the incredible amount of human suffering which the Ebola outbreak provoked in West Africa, the discourse employed by global governance identified the referent object nearly exclusively at the state-level. Further research is suggested in the concluding parts of this thesis that can build upon the findings of this study.

<p>In the post-9/11 period, the United States can be seen to have securitized its approach to homeland security policy. Canada did not follow suit. Instead, the Canadian state sought to respond to American securitization initiatives in order to protect its own state interests. An in-depth examination of securitization theory demonstrates that this theoretical construct has been re-interpreted by scholars and adapted to various research agendas. This dissertation differentiates amongst three variants of securitization theory: philosophical, sociological, and post-structural. Common to these competing variants of securitization theory was the finding that the role of the audience had remained vague, hindering the use of this theoretical model for examining the policy creation process. Focusing on the philosophical variant of securitization theory, as originally articulated by the Copenhagen School, this dissertation re-evaluates the role of the audience while examining the ways in which the American approach to homeland security was securitized in the new security environment that emerged following 9/11, as well as Canada’s response to this securitization.</p> <p>This project divides the audience into two separate groups, made up of three components. The elite audience, which is comprised of members of the state policy elite, and the media first determine whether or not an issue poses an existential threat to the security of the state. The populist audience - the state’s public - then determines for itself whether or not it accepts the existential nature of the threat. This division of the audience into two separate groups allows for a clearer understanding of whether or not a given issue has been successfully securitized.</p> <p>In the post-9/11 period, the American audience groups willingly accepted that the threat of terrorism posed an existential threat to the state. The Canadian audience groups, prompted by their own authorized speakers of security, did not recognize terrorism as posing an existential threat to the Canadian states. Ultimately, an examination of the audience groups in these two states demonstrates the utility of the philosophical variant of securitization theory for evaluating states’ responses to security threats.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)