ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the original theoretical framework that will guide the subsequent empirical analysis. It examines the analytical framework developed by the Copenhagen School and considers in particular the two inter-related concepts of ‘securitization’ and ‘societal security’. The chapter explores the question of the adequacy of the Copenhagen School’s framework for empirical case studies. It provides four specific aspects of the framework that, it is argued, should be refined or further developed in order to increase the analytic purchase of the framework. The four specific aspects are: the conceptualisation of security; the existence of securitization processes through practices and through association, in addition to speech acts; the importance of the context – in both its historical and institutional dimensions – of securitizing moves; and the understanding of emergency and extraordinary measures. The Copenhagen School’s analytical framework is centred on the concept of securitization, which refers to the social construction of an issue as an existential threat.
