ABSTRACT
The first chapter provides an archaeology of knowledge on securitization and West Africa, notably in relation to recent charges being levelled at securitization theory of being racist. The charge against securitization of being Eurocentric, which has been uttered against international relations theory more generally, took on an extra dimension when Alison Howell and Melanie Richter-Montpetit (2020) took a swipe at the Copenhagen School accusing it of being not only Eurocentric but harbouring racist modes of thought. ‘Racist thought is fundamental and integral to classic securitization theory’s conceptual and methodological project’.
