Securitization

Within less than a decade piracy has been turned from a marginal economic problem into a global security problem. A surprising array of international actors addresses piracy and coordinates their activities. In this contribution we interrogate this astonishing story of international cooperation. We argue that what we observe here is a global security governance arrangement under construction. We conduct a praxiographic analysis of the current counter-piracy governance arrangement. A praxiographic analysis takes as the main unit of analysis practice, that is, collective patterns of action which entail speech and doings. Based on this evidence we carry out what can be called an “informed speculation” about the future of the arrangement. Based on the notion of macro-securitization we develop three different forms of expectations (or scenarios) of what characterizes the piracy governance arrangement: 1) an interest based “alliance” or “coalition of the willing”; 2) as a forming “security community” of cosmopolitan or regional scale; or as a 3) hybrid “global security assemblage”.

How do regional arrangements construct and respond to threat agendas, and to what extent can the existing literature on securitization theory help us understand this process? This article explores these questions by analyzing how the African Union (AU) has responded to contemporary transnational challenges. After providing an overview of the Copenhagen School's concept of securitization, the article discusses whether the known problems and limitations of securitization theory prevent this approach from being applied to regional arrangements. Arguing that they do not do so per se, the article then provides an overview of transnational challenges on the AU's agenda and explores the extent to which the organization has " securitized " them. It concludes that the AU has collectively securitized only a limited number of transnational challenges, particularly terrorism and HIV/AIDS, and that significant problems remain when attempting to apply the Copenhagen School's framework to regional arrangements.

This insightful book analyzes the evolution of the operational tasks and cooperation of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX), the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) and the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (EUROPOL). Exploring the recent expansion of the legal mandates of these decentralized EU agencies and the activities they undertake in practice, David Fernández-Rojo offers a critical assessment of the EU migration agencies.

The book identifies two key trends in the administration of the European Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. Fernández-Rojo discusses how on one hand the new legal frameworks of FRONTEX, EASO and EUROPOL stress that their operational roles are limited to providing national authorities with technical assistance, while on the other hand these agencies are increasingly involved in guaranteeing the enforcement of EU migration, asylum and border management measures. The book expertly illustrates how FRONTEX, EASO and EUROPOL establish an effective and uniform national implementation of laws and policies, with a focus on their multilateral cooperation in the hotspots established in the aftermath of the refugee crisis.

Examining the de jure and de facto operational powers and cooperation of EU migration agencies, this book will be critical reading for academics and students of law, international relations and political science. Its assessment of the effectiveness of policy implementation will also be beneficial for legal practitioners, policy makers and NGOs.

Öz Bu çalışmada Belucilerin ulusçu istemlerini meşrulaştıran toplumsal faktörler değerlendirilmiştir. Bu değerlendirmenin yapılmak istenmesinin esas nedeni, Pakistan ve İran topraklarında bölünmüş halde yaşayan bu halkın yükselen ulusçu istemleriyle küresel/bölgesel aktörlerin stratejileri arasında yakın bir ilişkinin olmasıdır. Beluci ulusçuluğunun değerlendirilmesi hususunda ise Kopenhag Okulu'nun öngördüğü güvenlikleştirme yaklaşımı kullanılmıştır. Ulusçuluk girişimleri genel itibarıyla devletler arası ilişkiler üzerinden ve realist kuram bağlamında anlamlandırıldığı için, Beluci kimliğinin konsolide olmasında etkili toplumsal faktörlerin sosyal inşacılık üzerine temellendirilmiş bir yaklaşım olan güvenlikleştirme çerçevesinde ele alınması önemli bir farklılık oluşturmaktadır. Çalışmanın vardığı sonuç ise, Beluci ulusal kimliğinin Pakistan ve İran'ın toprak bütünlüğünü tehdit edebilecek ve bölgesel dengelere etki edebilecek şekilde kullanılabilecek bir toplumsal meşruiyete sahip olduğudur.

This is an expanded version of:
- Aalbers MB (2018b) Financial geography II: Financial geographies of housing and real estate. Progress in Human Geography DOI:10.1177/0309132518819503.
- Aalbers MB (2019a) Financial geography III: The financialization of the city. Progress in Human Geography, in press.

Financial geography is often understood as the geographies of money and finance, but this paper takes a different understand in which financial geography is a lens that can be applied to a range of topics (Aalbers, 2018a). This approach follows my historiography of financial geography, which suggests that financial geography is not simply a sub-sub-discipline embedded in economic geography; the field of financial geography is equally rooted in the sub-disciplines of political and urban geography (Aalbers, 2015a) and in this literature review I will look at a frontier of financial geography, that is, the intersection of economic and urban geography.

My goal here is not to foreground ‘the city’ or ‘the urban’ as the privileged site of applying a financial geography lens, but rather a pragmatic choice to demonstrate how a financial lens can help to enrich different fields of geographical research. My conceptualization of the city is equally pragmatic: for the purpose of the literature review in this paper, I use it primarily as a container term to include studies of urban governance, housing, real estate and the built environment. This review is not the place to discuss the nature of ‘the urban’. It is also worth pointing out what I have not included here: studies of financial centres, such as the City of London, Wall Street, Raffles Place or Bandra Kurla. Research of financial centres and districts is, in a way, the recognized core of geographies of money and finance, not the frontier I want to prioritise here.

In the following sections, I will first discuss financial geographies of housing, with a focus on mortgage debt, securitization and the rise of corporate landlords, but also the financialization of construction firms and social housing non-profits. Subsequent sections zoom in on financial geographies of 1) commercial real estate and large urban projects; and 2) the local state and (semi-)public sector. Finally, I draw some conclusions based on the cumulation of findings, diversity of perspectives, and spatialities and temporalities of financialization. In this literature review I have tried to include literature from non-English speaking countries where possible.

The aim of this paper is twofold: (1) describe the new prudential regulatory framework on securitisation approved by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in December 2014 which will come into force from January 2018; (2) analyse the impact of the new rules on public guarantees to the benefit of securitised portfolios of SME loans, a policy tool which has grown in importance in Italy in programs fostering SME financing in the presence of a credit crunch. The rationale and principles behind the new framework are considered in the introductory sections. In the central section, the regulatory procedures for calculating minimum capital requirements are examined, with a focus on the two approaches that rely upon “supervisory formulas”, i.e. SEC-IRBA (available to banks with an internal rating system approved by bank supervisors) and SEC-SA (available to banks adopting the Standard Approach). In the final section, the impact of the new framework on the effectiveness of public guarantee programs is assessed by means of a simulation exercise where the capital absorption for some representative portfolios is computed and compared under the different regimes,  old and new. The evidence obtained indicates that the Basel III framework on securitisation strongly reduces, or even eliminates completely, the capital saving effect of current public guarantee programs on SME portfolios. Therefore, banks and policy makers must design innovative guarantee structures which have a risk mitigation effect and, at the same time, make an efficient use of public resources in order to be ready for the phasing in of the new rules. It is also desirable that the planned review of the Basel III rules recognize guarantees on portfolios of loans to SMEs as eligible to the more favourable treatment granted to simple, transparent and standardized securitisations.

The Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 was marked by the securitization of the political identity of Russian speakers living in Crimea. Discourse from Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as other important Russian political actors all framed the situation in Crimea as one that required exceptional and emergency measures from the Russian state. How did this happen? This thesis aims to examine how Russia securitized political identity by using methodology and discourse analysis from the Copenhagen School of Security Studies. Beyond simply a discourse analysis, this research also aims to determine what the actual reasons were for the annexation. In doing so, the thesis conducts a historical and cultural analysis of Russian-Ukrainian relations, examines the international, domestic, and local factors of the annexation, summarizes the Russian explanation for their actions, thoroughly analyzes the relevant discourse on the subject, asks what the actual reasons for annexation may have been, examines a similar case study of South Ossetia and asks what the implications of this securitizing move will be. Particularly interesting is that the role of political identity as a tool to be securitized will most likely remain geopolitical in nature. Further, the thesis overall makes a claim that abstract ideas that are securitized do not need to be present objective threats to the state. They simply need to be presented as such, The framing of the narrative surrounding the Crimean annexation is not only interesting due to its manipulation of facts, but to its ultimate circling of the question of whether Russia and Ukraine share a common historical memory, as the Russian explanation would have observers believe.

Research on comprehensive sanctions underlines that targeted leaders are able to create a rally- round-the-flag effect through the distribution of economic resources and strong ideological sentiment. Although the policy shift to targeted sanctions ought to fix this unintended effect, evidences show that targeted leaders are still able to successfully use the symbolism of sanctions to foster public support. Although the rally-round-the-flag effect of sanctions is often treated in the literature, little is known about the mechanism explaining such phenomenon. By using the sociological securitization theory and Benford and Snow’s frame analysis framework this thesis presents the securitization process as a non-positivistically defined causal mechanism explaining the relationship between the symbolism of sanctions and public support. This theoretical framework is applied to the case of European Union (EU) and United States of America’s (USA) targeted sanctions on the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF). The analysis shows that the ZANU-PF was able to mobilise public opinion by using the symbolism of sanctions as a threat to the sovereignty and the economy of Zimbabwe. The acceptance of this security claim by key domestic audiences and its embeddedness within the context enabled such causal relation. Hence, sanction-imposing actors should give great attention to the complex social processes taking place within specific targeted states and adapt their approaches accordingly.

Acknowledging the complexity and fragmentation of the migration phenomenon, the aim of this contribution is to delve into a set of highly problematic aspects of the situation that can potentially pinpoint to the pre-existence of other 'crises', the combination of which manifests now as 'refugee crisis'.  If migration is not a novel phenomenon but Europe's reactions to it are gradually becoming harsher, can these last two years be perceived as such a threatening 'crisis' or should we carefully trace other, latent and deeper, dynamics at play before placing the ‘crisis’ label? In other words, which are the components of the current crisis in Greece and, consequently, how could these crisis components affect the symbiosis between the host society and the migrants in the near future?
The article’s structure aims to utilize a retrospective analysis of the predominantly negative attitudes towards migration in Greece – when the incoming influx was not, at least logistically, such a ‘’crisis’’ - and combine it with present policy and legal challenges which potentially legitimize and provide an excuse for pre-existing hostilities to manifest. Connecting the legal and societal status quo, albeit appearing as conceptually distinct aspects of analysis, is one of the main objectives of this contribution, since the proclaimed refugee crisis poses as a unique opportunity to showcase the interactions between the macro- and micro-level and, most notably, the effect of the former to the latter.

This dissertation seeks to map, compare, and interrogate the concept of desecuritization, as it has been developed in normative-political and empirical literatures, both within and beyond the Copenhagen School. Departing from the ordering question: “Why has ‘desecuritization’ been theorised in such diverse and inconsistent ways, how does it operate politically, and does it warrant the Copenhagen School’s political-ethical preference for it as a generally positive solution to the ‘problem’ of securitization?”, this argument will engage with a range of past and present debates, synthesizing the political-theoretical- and empirical literatures in order to re-read the political-normative implications, merits and problems of a number of proposed desecuritizing strategies. On this basis it will seek to
interrogate the theoretical limits of these strategies as it attempts to explore the move’s analytical complexity, in order to ultimately reflect on what this reveals about three critical, unarticulated tensions—theoretical, political, normative— in the inconsistent ways ‘normal politics’ has been understood and used; between two opposed normative-political principles underpinning the Copenhagen School’s normative program; and between the way de-securitization works in general, and its general preference for desecuritization in particular.

The new century has witnessed unprecedented efforts by both international institutions and mental health movements to promote and prioritise mental health at the same level as other priority health issues, especially HIV/AIDS. The release of the highly influential Lancet series on global mental health in 2007 highlighted these efforts, and the slogan “no health without mental health” became widely known. Despite success in developed regions, mental health and illness have been largely neglected in lesser developed areas made up mostly of low- and middle-income countries (LAMICs). This preliminary research explored the efforts to prioritise mental health through securitisation and attempted to determine why such efforts are not successful in LAMICs regions, focusing on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a case study. According to our findings, a primary reason mental health is not prioritised in ASEAN is the difference in the values and social norms of LAMICs versus liberal-Western values and norms. These liberal-Western values and norms are the root of securitising, prioritising efforts. Securitisation can be considered a humanitarian effort, because the process is grounded in moral arguments and a universal value of human rights and dignity. For such securitisation efforts to succeed, however, a region must share the values at its roots. The final recommendation is that mental health advocates find a more pragmatic strategy in order to make the efforts workable within LAMICs regions.

The scope of this paper focuses on the comparison of director’s liability in securitization companies between different countries.

This paper intends to look at the liability of directors in securitization companies in three jurisdictions: the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, the Federal Republic of Germany and the People’s Republic of China.

Although Luxembourg, Germany and China are different jurisdictions and have different securitization markets, their approach to director’s liability in general and SPVs in special is the same. In principle the company would be liable for its
obligations and not the director, as long as he complies to the standard set for him or her in each respective jurisdiction.

In many cases, directorship is fulfilled by a trust company or corporate services provider. Often trust companies do not see securitization companies as different from their mainstream work, which, in the view of the author would be a grave mistake which can cost dearly. A number of recommendations is proposed for trust companies who engage in the securitization business.

The comparison between Luxembourg, Germany and China shows that, despite the differences in legal systems, the result is the same. So should the behavior of a SPV director in any jurisdiction be: careful, diligent, loyal, acting as a prudent businessman for the best interest of the beneficiary or the stakeholders.

While media and scholarly attention on the ‘clandestinity’ of migrants is commonplace, and while ‘visibility’ and ‘invisibility’ feature prominently in the vocabulary of migration scholars, it seems researchers rarely interrogate borders and migration from the angle of sociologies, anthropologies and geographies of secrecy. We use the analytics of secrecy when we debate the covert activities of spies, diplomats, bankers, conspirators,  not to mention the transgressive acts of whistleblowers, but arguably less so when we theorize migration control. In this essay I want to explore some connections between the politics of secrecy and the politics of migration control. My main argument is that it is fruitful to bring theoretical and empirical reflections on secrecy into the debate about borders and migration. I call this the secretization of migration.

The article attempts a comprehensive review of the human security concept in order to question its utility for both research and policy-making. It notes the term’s interdisciplinary and extensively normative content that have facilitated its evolution into a successful security discourse. On the other hand, human security’s wide appeal has as a side-effect an extended conceptual polysemy inhibiting the cumulation of knowledge and the development of a relevant theory. Absence of conceptual clarity has also complicated its policy implementation. The article attempts to break the deadlock and move the debate forward by using the work of John Gerring and Paul A. Barresi on concept formation as an organizing device.

This paper asks, what can account for the rapid expansion and growing profitability of the US credit card industry since the mid-1980s? And, what does this mean to the study of global finance within IPE? It is argued that the advent of asset-backed securities, a financial innovation known as securitization, was the key to the enormous expansion of credit card profits and the continued proliferation and growth of the credit card market in the US. This is because securitization moved credit card receivables off-balance sheet, allowing loan pools to be re-capitalized, lowering the cost of borrowing and increasing revenues from payments on securities issued. This financial innovation attracted non-banks, mostly large MNCs, into the credit card market, facilitating greater integration between finance and the ‘real’ economy. The deepening integration facilitated mounting competition and lower costs of borrowing and was the catalyst for the rapid expansion of the credit card market and its unsurpassed profitability.

The COVID-19 pandemic quickly led to the closure of universities and colleges around the world, in hopes that public health officials’ advice of social distancing could help to flatten the infection curve and reduce total fatalities from the disease. Drawing on Copenhagen school securitization theory and analyzing 25 declarations of emergency eLearning at American universities, I argue that in addition to COVID-19 being framed as a general threat, face-to-face schooling was also presented as a threat through these policies. A review of securitization theory—with particular attention to the question of advocacy and the relationship of desecuritization to emancipation—grounds the investigation theoretically. I argue that securitization theory is an important tool for educators not only for observing (and understanding) the phenomenon of emergency eLearning, but also for advocating the desecuritization of schooling after the COVID-19 crisis passes.

ביטחון איננו רק עניין צבאי. זוהי סוגיה אזרחית, שלה מגוון היבטים. הטענה המרכזית של הספר היא שמי שתרבותם מבוזה ומודרת, שמופגנות כלפיהם התנהגויות גזעניות, או שהם מתקשים להגיש לילדיהם ארוחה מספקת אינם יכולים לחוש בטחון; גם אזרחים ואזרחיות שממשלתם מערערת על הלגיטימיות שלהם משום שעמדותיהם מנוגדות לאלה שלה אינם יכולים להרגיש בטוחים. ועוד, מאבקי זהות בין קבוצות חברתיות שונות משפיעים גם על תחושת הביטחון של המשרתים בצבא.
התפתחות הדיון בסוגיות כאלה הובילה בעשורים האחרונים להבנה שהגבלת הדיון בביטחון למובנו הצבאי בלבד, מאפילה על חשיבותם של היבטים אזרחיים חיוניים לביטחונם האישי של בני האדם, ובהם זהות מגדרית ואתנית, תרבות, שיח דמוקרטי, איכות סביבה, חינוך ורווחה. הספר מאתגר את צורת החשיבה הרגילה על  סוגיית הביטחון, ומנתח את התהליכים שמובילים לנסיגה בתחושת הביטחון האזרחי בישראל. הפרקים משקפים דאגה עמוקה של חוקרות וחוקרים מן השורה הראשונה באקדמיה מהתדרדרות התשתית הדמוקרטית, ומהתערערות תחושת הביטחון האנושי והאזרחי בישראל. מדינה קרועה מבפנים, טוענים הכותבים, איננה יכולה להעניק לאזרחיה תחושה של מוגנות גם כשהגבולות הפיזיים מאובטחים.
על העורכות:
פרופ' עירית קינן היא דיקנית בית הספר לחינוך במכללה למנהל. לימדה באוניברסיטאות מובילות בארץ ובחו"ל. מחקריה יוצאים מנקודת מבט רב-תחומית, שמשלבת בדיסציפלינה ההיסטורית היבטים של פסיכולוגיה חברתית וסוציולוגיה. פרסמה חמישה ספרים, שניים מהם זכו בפרסים. החל מ-2019, היא מכהנת גם כיו"ר הפורום האקדמי לאזרחות.
ד"ר עירית הרבון, חברת סגל בבית הספר לחינוך במכללה למנהל, חוקרת סוגיות הקושרות בין חינוך, אזרחות ודמוקרטיה בישראל; ואת דפוסי הפעולה הקולקטיביים של המיעוט הפלסטיני בישראל בהקשרים אלה. בנוסף, הייתה שותפה לחיבור ספר הלימוד באזרחות, שעוסק במיעוט הערבי בישראל.

The article takes a micro-level look at the construction of security in the PRC by analyzing Deng Xiaoping’s first speech after the Tiananmen incident in 1989. The author proposes that the reproduction or post-hoc construction of security is a specific variant of securitization.

This paper investigates the contribution that securitization and praxiography can make to the study of maritime security. It investigates the concept of maritime security, its history and reference objects and provides a discussion of counter-piracy practices. While not offering detailed empirical results, the chapter outlines a research agenda on maritime security.

Czy ochrona środowiska może stanowić fundament dla pokojowego współżycia społeczności w rejonach konfliktu? Bazując na koncepcji zaawansowanego zapobiegania konfliktom (ACP) uznajemy, że taka sytuacja jest możliwa dzięki (często ukrytym) mechanizmom desekurytyzacji i depolityzacji jakie wiążą się z zacieśnianiem współpracy ekologicznej na poziomie transnarodowym. Staramy się odpowiedzieć na to pytanie poprzez analizę doświadczeń pozarządowej organizacji Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME), działającej na terenie Izraela, Jordanii i Autonomii Palestyńskiej i będącej jedyną trójstronną organizacją ekologiczną w tym regionie. Korzystając z materiałów tej organizacji, wywiadów oraz dostępnych wypowiedzi kluczowych aktorów politycznych, staramy się prześledzić proces desekurytyzacji i pokazać w jakich warunkach jest on możliwy.

The present chapter explores how different forms of conflict management activities fit with, and enhance, our understanding of desecuritization as a concept and process. By addressing escalating conflicts, conflict management activities aim to affect parties’ antagonistic perceptions of each other and of the issues at stake, and thus minimize the potential of a speech act or other securitizing ‘move’ to elicit or perpetuate a security dilemma between the parties. The chapter will also indicate how these adverse perceptions have a tendency to become self-perpetuating
when peacemaking, peacebuilding, or peacekeeping efforts fail. The sense of insecurity and lack of trust are the core aspects that any conflict management activity needs to deal with. Irrespective of the point in the conflict cycle in which a certain activity is undertaken – be it peacemaking, peacekeeping, or peacebuilding – the success of conflict management efforts rests on the ability to provide sufficiently credible commitment by external parties, which can take forms of security guarantees, (promises of) implementation assistance and political cover for the parties to perceive the utility of a mutually acceptable peaceful solution to their problem.

The subject of this essay is to, with as many facts as possible, explain, how, throughout the actions of the countries after post- Cold War period, have created both mixture of the over secured and super watched upon everyone world of the “Big Brother”1, and the world of Mustapha Mond and his world government. And also, how those two fictional worlds, have intertwined in today’s securitization practices and the society’s respond to it.

Today, social engineering techniques are the most common way of committing cybercrimes through the intrusion and infection of computer systems. Cyber security experts use the term “social engineering” to highlight the “human factor" in digitized systems, as social engineering attacks aim at manipulating people to reveal sensitive information. In this paper, we explore how discursive framings of individual versus collective security by cyber security experts redefine roles and responsibilities at the digitalized workplace. We will first show how the rhetorical figure of the deficient user is constructed vis-à-vis notions of (in)security in social engineering discourses. Second, we will investigate the normative tensions that these practices create. To do so, we link work in STS on the politics of deficit construction to recent work in critical security studies (CSS) on securitization and resilience. Empirically, our analysis builds on a multi-sited conference ethnography during three cyber security conferences as well as an extensive document analysis. Our findings suggest a redistribution of institutional responsibility to the individual user through three distinct social engineering storylines – “the oblivious employee”, “speaking code and social”, “fixing human flaws”. Finally, we propose to open up the discourse on social engineering and its inscribed politics of deficit construction and securitization and advocate for companies and policy makers to establish and foster a culture of cyber in/security and corporate responsibility.

The purpose of this work is to examine the role and involvement of the two largest private prisons corporations in the US, Corrections Corporations of America (CCA) and The GEO Group, Inc., in the immigration policymaking arena. Recent news reported the role of private prison
industry in sponsoring and drafting Arizona’s immigration bill, Senate Bill 1070. Following Arizona’s SB 1070, 36 state legislatures proposed copycat bills. This is alarming because immigrants and noncitizens continue to grow in detainment and are creating profit for the private prisons that
house them as the US continues in and even expands its War on Terror. Parallels of the private prisons’ role in sponsoring bills that encouraged harsher, longer sentences during the US’s previous War on Drugs that generated them profits for are presented. We find that both CCA and The GEO
Group, Inc. spent over 90% of their lobbying dollars between 2003 and 2012 in states that proposed Arizona copycat bills; campaign contributions by these two corporations in states that proposed copycat bills are also illustrated. Implications of heightened securitisation governance and compromises
to American democracy are discussed.

Populists have lately been at the forefront of securitisation processes, yet little attention has been paid to the relationship between populism and securitisation. This paper investigates the role of securitisation in populism, exploring how the populist mode of securitising differs from traditional securitisation processes. It argues that securitisation is inherently embedded in populism which embodies a particular style of securitisation with a distinct set of discursive and aesthetic repertoires. The populist invocation of societal security and their claim to defend the fundamentally precarious identity of 'the endangered people' necessitate an unceasing construction of new threats. Aiming to discredit 'elitist' securitisation processes, populism invests in a specific construction of the referent object, the securitising actor and their relationship to the audience. The populist securitising style also carries a distinctive aesthetic centred on 'poor taste', sentimental ordinariness and unprofessionalism, examining which can widen our understanding of the aesthetics of security. Keywords aesthetics, populism, securitisation, societal security, style 'We must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people'-wrote the President of the United States Donald Trump on his Twitter the day after the 'London Bridge' attack by the so-called 'Islamic State' on 4 June 2017. 1 With his daily production of such little 'speech acts', Trump has been eager to implement several extraordinary security policies, such as invoking national emergency powers to secure funding to build a border wall with Mexico. Trump is just one example of how populists rally audiences around themes of security, as also seen in the Brexit campaign and the European 'refugee crisis'. In this paper, I investigate the role that securitisation plays in populism, exploring how the populist mode of securitising differs from traditional securitisation processes. The focus is on populism in its mainstream, right-wing form, since the complexity of 'left populism' deserves separate attention and is beyond the scope of this inquiry. 2

As scores of climate change adaptation measures are implemented around the world, there have been growing calls among academics and practitioners to also address the processes that underpin human vulnerability to climate change. However, there is mounting evidence that adaptation and vulnerability are linked, such that ostensibly adaptive responses can have negative consequences and augment people’s vulnerability. We analyzed several climate change responses at various scales and developed a typology of five discrete but related modes by which the vulnerability of already vulnerable populations is being [re]produced. Crucially, this work suggests that for at least one of these modes, the vulnerability of other groups is perversely inverted, such that relatively secure populations perceive themselves to be at risk. The cases we present illustrate that people’s vulnerability is being used against them, or put another way, is being weaponized―exacerbating their precarity by excluding them from much needed and due assistance, while directing resources instead to bolstering the well-being of those already well-positioned to respond to climate threats. Our typology provides a theoretical intervention by illustrating how climate vulnerability and security are co-produced, as well as a practical tool to help decision makers to adopt more just and equitable climate policies.

В статье исследуется российская несистемная оппозиция как политический феномен, категоризация которого произошла в 2000-х гг. Несистемная оппозиция рассматривается в контексте принципиального изменения характера деполитизации после президентских выборов 2012 г., когда административно-бюрократическая рациональность сменилась секьюритизацией ключевых сфер общественной жизни. Отмечается, что мобилизация понятия «неси-стемная оппозиция» является частью стратегии властного дискурса. Постепенно «несистемность» переводится из юридического в культурное предметное поле посредством противопоставления «стабильности» — основному по-стулату риторики президентской кампании Владимира Путина 2012 г. Таким образом запускается механизм отчуж-дения части политического сообщества и формирования негативного к ней отношения в общественном сознании. По мере реализации стратегии секьюритизации это понятие постепенно выходит из публичного оборота.

Il contributo affronta il tema della definizione trattamento di vigilanza da parte della BCE per le operazioni di trasferimento del rischio delle NPEs, diverse dalle c.dd. “cartolarizzazioni prudenziali”, poste in essere dalle banche. L’analisi condotta, dopo aver esaminato le interferenze con le disposizioni contabili e le specificità comunque rinvenibili sul fronte prudenziale, evidenzia come dal complesso regolamentare disciplinante la materia non sia ravvisabile alcun divieto in ordine alla menzionata tipologia di operazioni e conclude ipotizzando alcuni accorgimenti percorribili dagli intermediari al fine di ottenere l’approvazione dell’autorità di vigilanza.

This article critically evaluates the recent developments in Dutch policy formation regarding Roma minorities from the perspective of the increased attention paid to their position at European level. First, the author discusses the so-called ‘Europeanization of Roma representation’, that is the post-1989 representation of the Roma as a European minority and the simultaneous large-scale, Europe-wide devising of development, inclusion, and empowerment programs meant for them. Thereafter, the author argues that some of the risks of the Roma’s Europeanization – such as the isolation and culturalization of policy formation and the diminishing of democratic accountability – have also and ambiguously affected Dutch policies meant for Roma, Sinti and caravan dwellers. By means of a brief analysis of recent policy developments, the author demonstrates that the Dutch shift towards a policy that, at least in name, encourages social participation, has actually tended to result into a one-sided focus on the Roma as a ‘problem group’ and ‘security threat’.

The role of the military as the “protector” of state and society is a standard assertion of
international relations. Within securitization theory, the association of an issue with the military is
both an identification of threat and an endorsement of the military as source of “safety”. In recent
conflicts, however, this status of the military as legitimate potential object of violence has been
destabilized by unpopular wars and the rise of societal discourses which frame soldiers not as
legitimate combatants, but as endangered by their state's foreign policy. Drawing upon
securitization theory, this paper seeks to map the various constructions of troops-as-vulnerable
with the aim of examining the forms of political identity and foreign/military policy both
facilitated and constrained by such discourses within the context of a single case study – the US
during the “global way on terror”. Overall, it is argued that American soldiers are the subject of a
securitizing move by societal actors, including peace organizations and “support the troops”
movements, which distinguishes the abstract “troops” from the overarching state and/or
government. The paper concludes by examining the implications of this apparent collapse of
securitized referent object and institutional means of security for broader securitization theory.

This book examines how the Zionist movement, and later the state of Israel, have dealt with various longstanding efforts to delegitimize Israel’s standing in the international community, including by the Arab League Boycott, the United Nations, and the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Through historical and archival research, as well as discourse analysis
of legal and governmental documents, public statements of Israeli officials, and interviews with Israeli policy makers, this book argues that Israel has constructed perceived and real challenges to its legitimacy as ontological threats that undermine its national security, and has securitized its Jewish identity in response to these threats. As a result, the state has adopted extraordinary measures, often marked by illiberalism. Rather than enhance Israel’s international legitimacy, these measures have undermined it further, especially among liberal audiences in the West, whose support is critical for Israel’s continued international legitimacy. Therefore, Israel is locked in a securitization dilemma—where actions taken to enhance its security through increased legitimacy result in further delegitimization. Highlighting the ways this securitization dilemma is at the heart of Israeli policymaking today—particularly in the context of the recent BDS movement—this book brings into focus key problems that Israel faces as it attempts to combat delegitimization movements against its self-constructed identity as a Jewish state.

This book will be of great interest to students, scholars, and policy makers engaged with critical security studies and delegitimization, Israeli studies and Jewish identity, and policymaking in the Middle East.