Abstract
Although first introduced in the mid-1990s, securitization theory appears to be continuously in vogue – at least in European security and international relations (IR) research – as there is a constant flow of articles, edited volumes and special issues that continue to criticize, develop and empirically apply the idea that security is a speech act. Holger Stritzel’s book, Security in Translation: Securitization Theory and the Localization of Threat, clearly fits into this scholarly discussion. Firmly belonging to what often is called the second generation of securitization theory, Stritzel’s book addresses the shortcomings of the original claims of the Copenhagen School, as well as attempts to contribute to the theoretical development and, ultimately, the empirical applicability of the securitization framework.
The book is divided into three parts: the first consists of three theoretical chapters; the second covers the cases studies of the securitization of organized crime and rogue states in the German and US discourses; and the third section is a concluding discussion probing the implications of the study. The theoretical part starts off with a lengthy critical review of the original version of securitization theory and its weaknesses, elaborating on the different aspects of the theory and how its theoretical underpinnings are underdeveloped. One problem that is highlighted concerns the theory’s philosophical connections to the assumptions of, for instance, Derrida, Butler, Arendt and Bourdieu. This legacy, however, is not sufficiently developed according to Stritzel, and this shortcoming contributes to the theoretical deficiencies of the original take on securitization by the Copenhagen School. Although the discussion helps to portray the theoretical complexities, as well as inconsistencies, of the basic assumptions of securitization theory, it appears somewhat superfluous to the central theme of the book, which concerns ‘the spread and localization of securitizations that are condensed in specific threat images such as organized crime of rogue states’ (p. 6).
The following theoretical chapter on securitization theory ‘post-Copenhagen School’ that views securitization as a ‘specific conceptualization of discourse dynamics’ (p. 38) is more clearly linked to the focus of the book, and the final theoretical chapter is particularly central as it lays out the premises for the subsequent empirical investigation. By focusing on securitization as translation, that is, how threat images travel between different contexts and become localized in new settings, emphasis is placed on the continuous development and reconstitution of securitizing moves. In order to capture this process, a framework covering three mechanisms – the elusiveness of a threat, the compatibility between a threat and a new context and the deliberate socio-political adaptation of the threat framing to fit dominant discourses in the new context – is suggested.
This conceptualization of securitization as a discourse that travels between different contexts and becomes localized into new contextual discourses is in the second part of the book applied to the cases of organized crime as well as rogue states in Germany and the United States. The reasons for choosing these particular threat images in these particular contexts are not explicated, but the book presents an interesting read concerning the development of the mafia narrative in the US, followed by a detailed outline of the process of the securitization of organized crime in the same contextual setting. This is followed by a discussion on how this threat framing is translated to the German discourse and altered in order to fit into that discursive setting. It is, however, not entirely clear to the reader how – or even if – this translation took place. Different possible influencing sources are discussed – ranging from the portraying of the mafia in popular culture to events such as international workshops and meetings between law enforcement representatives from different countries. Still, that the changes over time in the German discourse on crime ‘did not happen autonomously but, on the basis of a pre-existing foreign threat text of “US organized crime”, as a process of successful sociolinguistic localization’ by local security actors (p. 113) might be open to interpretation. Although the narratives make rich descriptions of how the different processes looked like over time, they do not fully demonstrate that the threat image of organized crime was diffused to Germany from the US rather than solely being responses to changes in the criminal environment. The same claim can be made with regard to the second case describing the US narratives on ‘rogue states’ and the translation of this concept into ‘Schurkenstaaten’ in the German discourse. Also, here an interesting and detailed narrative on the articulations of securitizing moves is provided. In this case, however, it is argued that the socio-linguistic localization was not subsumed into the German discourse, but rather, it is argued, that ‘counter-securitization’ moves, portraying the US as the threat, were evident (p. 171), which makes any reservations against the explanatory powers of translation and travelling superfluous.
In summary, despite the critical points that have been raised, this is an interesting book that provides rich empirical insights into the construction of two different threat images in two different contextual settings. It also provides a valuable contribution of attempting to develop and refine the securitization framework, by not only viewing threats as the intra-contextual creations of a significant securitizing actor, but also as dynamic ideational constructs that travel and are transformed over time and space.