Book Review: Adam James Tebble, Epistemic Liberalism: A Defence
| Author | Aref Ebadi |
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929916676931 |
| Published date | 01 February 2017 |
| Date | 01 February 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Book ReviewsPolitical Theory |
95
Security in Translation: Securitization
to two case studies. By employing both suc-
Theory and the Localization of Threat by
cessful and unsuccessful cases of the transla-
Holger Stritzel. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan,
tion and localisation of a securitised threat
2014. 223pp., £65.00 (h/b), ISBN 9781137307569
image, Stritzel is also able to identify where
further research is required and thus has
While Holger Stritzel uses the Copenhagen
produced a significant addition to the existing
School of securitisation theory as an intellectual
literature.
starting point for his conception of securitisa-
tion theory, he makes a point early in this book
Courteney J O’Connor
to aver its instability as a workable political
(National Security College, Australian
theory. According to Stritzel, the Copenhagen
National University)
School suffers from being ‘heavily under-
© The Author(s) 2016
theorized, theoretically insufficient and flawed’
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and lacking in ability to be consistently and
DOI: 10.1177/1478929916676930
journals.sagepub.com/home/psrev
empirically applied (p. 181).
This book focuses on developing securitisa-
tion theory post-Copenhagen School, as per-
Epistemic Liberalism: A Defence by Adam
tains to the translation and localisation of threat
James Tebble. Abingdon: Routledge, 2016.
images through reiterative speech acts by
298pp., £90.00 (h/b), ISBN 9780415591997
actors other than political or military leaders. It
is the considered opinion of Stritzel that this
Philosophers have usually defended liberalism
second-generation securitisation theory offers
on moral grounds and its moral superiority
a framework of analysis whereby, through a
over other ideologies. Despite all the differ-
transformative process of discursive localisa-
ences among them, liberal thinkers have argued
tion, threat images become locally and gener-
that the freedom for...
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