Securitization and International Security during the COVID-19 Pandemic

A special issue of Social Sciences (ISSN 2076-0760).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 9016

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Social Sciences, University of the West of England, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK
Interests: international security; securitization theory; asylum; migration; borders; EU justice and home affairs; European security; terrorism and counter-terrorism
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Faculty of Life Sciences and Education, University of South Wales, Pontypridd CF37 1DL, UK
2. School of Law and Government, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland
Interests: international security; securitization theory; policing cooperation; personalized medicine; healthcare data analytics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

For a Special Issue of the Social Sciences journal, we invite proposals for papers that analyse securitization processes as part of the global security agenda in the post-COVID-19 world. 

Securitization theory has been a reference point in academic theorising on security since it was first developed by the so-called ‘Copenhagen School’. It aims to understand ‘who securitizes, what issues (threats), for whom (referent objects), why, with what results, and, not least, under what conditions (i.e., what explains when securitization is successful)’ (Buzan et al., 1998: 32). The Copenhagen School argues that securitization involves the construction of a discourse which presents a particular issue as a ‘security’ threat, i.e., it poses an immediate and existential danger to the referent group(s) in question, which must be dealt with as a matter of urgency and priority using ‘emergency measures’. The ’securitization framework’ for which the Copenhagen School has come to be renowned has been gradually developed since the 1990s through a series of books and articles. The aim of its main authors, Barry Buzan and Ole Wæver, was to make a major contribution to the so-called ‘widening-deepening’ debate in security studies, which begun in the 1980s and intensified with the end of the Cold War. The ‘widening’ dimension was defined as the extension of security to issues or sectors other than the military, whereas the ‘deepening’ dimension addressed the question of whether entities other than the state (e.g. society, individual human beings) should be able to claim security threats (Krause and Williams, 1996). Specifically, the Copenhagen School has developed an original theoretical framework centred on the idea of ‘securitization’ and incorporating the concept of ‘security sectors’ previously developed by Buzan (1991). In their view, this framework has made it possible to both widen and deepen the concept of security, without rendering it too broad or meaningless.  

This Special Issue will seek to deliver insights into national, regional and global security in the post-COVID-19 world through the application of interdisciplinary perspectives on securitization. With its interdisciplinary approach to the study of securitization, Social Sciences is an ideal venue for such an endeavour. 

Types of contributions sought

In general, we welcome proposals that seek to examine any aspect of securitization at the national, international or global level, including comparative studies and/or studies focusing on international organisations such as the European Union. Articles drawing upon philosophical and/or sociological approaches to securitization are welcome. Research seeking to elucidate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the national/international security agenda is particularly relevant to this Special Issue. 

Contributions could pursue one or several of the following aims, among others:

  • Critically taking stock of securitization, de-securitization, and counter-securitization models developed in this field.
  • Analysing the securitization of various issues, from the hard security end (military security) to the soft security end (societal security).
  • Comparing:
    • Amongst countries;
    • Within countries;
    • At the regional or international level;
    • Securitization, de-securitization and counter-securitization processes concerning the same threat;
    • The securitization of different threats (e.g., health, environment, energy, migration, state actors, non-state actors, etc.). 

Articles that extend beyond the traditional analytical foci of studies—for instance, those concerning trans- or sub-national cases—are particularly welcome. Finally, to maximise the interdisciplinary nature of the proposed research agenda, contributions are encouraged from a wide range of academic fields, including political science, international relations, international history, political sociology, criminology, policing, social anthropology, and geography, amongst others. 

Prof. Dr. Sarah Leonard
Prof. Dr. Christian Kaunert
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Social Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • securitization
  • de-securitization
  • counter-securitizatioon
  • Copenhagen School
  • environment
  • energy
  • migration
  • health
  • state actors
  • non-state actors
  • policing
  • counter-terrorism
  • military security

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

16 pages, 323 KiB  
Article
Ontological Securitization of Health in Africa: The HIV/AIDS, Ebola and COVID-19 Pandemics and the Foreign Virus
by Christian Kaunert and Edwin Ezeokafor
Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(8), 352; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11080352 - 8 Aug 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2407
Abstract
Africa’s security issues have suffered serious attention deficits. This article analyses why a globally accepted health security norm, such as fighting a communicable disease during a pandemic such as the COVID-19 pandemic, was, in Africa, perceived as a security threat emanating from external—foreign—actors [...] Read more.
Africa’s security issues have suffered serious attention deficits. This article analyses why a globally accepted health security norm, such as fighting a communicable disease during a pandemic such as the COVID-19 pandemic, was, in Africa, perceived as a security threat emanating from external—foreign—actors importing a ‘foreign virus’ into Africa. This fear-based perception can be explained by West Africa’s ontological security fears, ultimately based on its colonial past and a relationship of exploitation by the West. While this article analyses the case of COVID-19, it also explains the same process with previous epidemics, such as HIV/AIDS and EDV/Ebola. Full article
19 pages, 366 KiB  
Article
Securitization of COVID-19 as a Security Norm: WHO Norm Entrepreneurship and Norm Cascading
by Christian Kaunert, Sarah Leonard and Ori Wertman
Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(7), 266; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11070266 - 21 Jun 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5283
Abstract
In this article, we analyze the emergence of a global security norm of the COVID-19 epidemic as a threat to international security. This crisis is one of the gravest crises that humanity has experienced since the end of World War II in terms [...] Read more.
In this article, we analyze the emergence of a global security norm of the COVID-19 epidemic as a threat to international security. This crisis is one of the gravest crises that humanity has experienced since the end of World War II in terms of the number of people infected and died, but also in terms of the economic consequences. Here, we provide a framework for understanding the securitization of the COVID-19 epidemic as an international norm defined and promoted by the World Health Organization as a norm entrepreneur, and cascaded down to the level of member states. We identify the actors who developed the main strategic prescriptions of the security norm and the international mechanisms that promoted the cascading of its contents throughout the international system. We further develop the notion of primary and secondary norms, which explain the striking differences amongst industrialized states with regard to the contents, scope, and implementation timeline of the various measures aiming to curb the spread of the virus. Full article
Back to TopTop