ABSTRACT
If securitization is not a speech act, why does it act like one? Or, put more formally: What makes some securitizing moves, toward some objects, under some circumstances, before some audiences, have the performative effect that the “philosophical” (i.e., the Copenhagen School view) approach to securitization suggests? Using the U.S. “war on terror” as a central example, this chapter examines contemporary approaches to framing as a theory of media content and media effects to illuminate the social and cultural conditions under which securitization is introduced, amplified or played down. A controlled experiment looks at how public opinion can be manipulated by securitizing or desecuritizing news accounts. The right securitizing move, made toward the right object in front of the right audience, has a significant impact on the elements that make up securitization.
