Book review: Security in Translation: Securitization Theory and the Localization of Threat
| Date | 01 June 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0010836715610872 |
| Published date | 01 June 2016 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
Cooperation and Conflict
2016, Vol. 51(2) 248 –251
© The Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/0010836715610872
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The travelling of threat images
Holger Stritzel, Security in Translation: Securitization Theory and the Localization of Threat. Palgrave
Macmillan, New Security Challenges Series, 2014, ISBN 9781137307576, Ebook/Hardcover, £65.00.
Although first introduced in the mid-1990s, securitization theory appears to be continu-
ously in vogue – at least in European security and international relations (IR) research
– as there is a constant flow of articles, edited volumes and special issues that continue
to criticize, develop and empirically apply the idea that security is a speech act. Holger
Stritzel’s book, Security in Translation: Securitization Theory and the Localization of
Threat, clearly fits into this scholarly discussion. Firmly belonging to what often is called
the second generation of securitization theory, Stritzel’s book addresses the shortcom-
ings of the original claims of the Copenhagen School, as well as attempts to contribute
to the theoretical development and, ultimately, the empirical applicability of the securiti-
zation framework.
The book is divided into three parts: the first consists of three theoretical chapters; the
second covers the cases studies of the securitization of organized crime and rogue states
in the German and US discourses; and the third section is a concluding discussion prob-
ing the implications of the study. The theoretical part starts off with a lengthy critical
review of the original version of securitization theory and its weaknesses, elaborating on
the different aspects of the theory and how its theoretical underpinnings are underdevel-
oped. One problem that is highlighted concerns the theory’s philosophical connections to
the assumptions of, for instance, Derrida, Butler, Arendt and Bourdieu. This legacy, how-
ever, is not sufficiently developed according to Stritzel, and this shortcoming contributes
to the theoretical deficiencies of the original take on securitization by the Copenhagen
School. Although the discussion helps to portray the theoretical complexities, as well as
inconsistencies, of the basic assumptions of securitization theory, it appears somewhat
superfluous to the central theme of the book, which concerns ‘the spread and localization
of securitizations that are condensed in specific threat images such as organized crime of
rogue states’ (p. 6).
The following theoretical chapter on securitization theory ‘post-Copenhagen School’
that views securitization as a ‘specific conceptualization of discourse dynamics’ (p. 38)
is more clearly linked to the focus of the book, and the final theoretical chapter is particu-
larly central as it lays out the premises for the subsequent empirical investigation. By
focusing on securitization as translation, that is, how threat images travel between differ-
ent contexts and become localized in new settings, emphasis is placed on the continuous
development and reconstitution of securitizing moves. In order to capture this process, a
framework covering three mechanisms – the elusiveness of a threat, the compatibility
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