Securitization and International Security during the COVID-19 Pandemic

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.

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