The Limits of Securitization Theory: Observational Criticism and the Curious Absence of Israel

Abstract

Most discussions concerning how to evaluate theories make reference to empirical, methodological, logical, or normative criticisms. Less attention is given to how challenges in the theory itself affect the choice of cases. In this paper, I put forward the concept of observational criticism, which aims to trace biases in the empirical employment of a theory. While it overlaps with some of the criticisms mentioned above, observational criticism distinctly focuses on what we can learn about a theory through the prominence or absence of cases, or types of case, in the scholarship. To this end, I suggest a three‐stage approach for this criticism and I demonstrate each of these stages, as well as the utility of this framework, through a consideration of securitization scholarship—and more specifically of how securitization studies have overlooked the case of securitization moves in Israel. I suggest that although the concept of securitization has generated a great many studies on various theoretical and empirical issues, and despite the prominence of security discourse and practices in Israel, securitization scholarship has tended to avoid studying the securitization processes of this country. Following this mode of criticism, I argue that securitization theory could be more easily implemented in the case of Israel by, among other things, further clarifying the meaning of securitization success and its duration.

Immigration, médias et sécuritisation au Canada : une étude deLa Presseet duNational Post, 1998–2015

“…Depuis sa première formulation par le politologue danois Ole Waever (1989), le concept de sécuritisation a été appliqué à un large éventail d'objets d’étude, allant de la prolifération nucléaire (Buzan, 2008: 556) à la dégradation environnementale (Floyd, 2010; Jägeskog, 2011) en passant par le VIH/SIDA (McInnes et Rushton, 2011; Sjöstedt, 2011). Bien qu'en principe parfaitement apte à l’étude d'enjeux de sécurité traditionnels ou militaires, il a plus souvent qu'autrement été utilisé pour comprendre comment des enjeux de sécurité non-traditionnels sont transformés en sujets référents de la sécurité (Lupovici, 2014: 401). Parmi ces « nouvelles » menaces sécuritaires, l'immigration est l'un des principaux axes thématiques des études de sécuritisation.…”

“…Pourtant, il apparaît particulièrement intéressant pour trois ensembles de raisons. D'abord, l'application d'un modèle théorique essentiellement eurocentré–en ce qui concerne son institutionnalisation académique autant que sa vérification empirique (Lupovici, 2014: 391)–à un cas externe à l'espace européen présente un intérêt certain en matière de confrontation empirique de développements théoriques. Ensuite, le Canada présente un profil historique, démographique et géographique original qui conditionne sa politique migratoire.…”

Deep Securitization and Israel's “Demographic Demon”

“…Surprisingly, very few ST studies have examined the case of Israel (Lupovici 2014, forthcoming). This section seeks to help fill this empirical gap by looking at Israel's deep securitization, focusing on one of its key facets: the “demographic demon.” To be sure, the demographic threat has occasionally yielded to other prominent securitizations, such as the threat of terror.…”

“…Wilkinson ), may benefit from such an empirical extension. Israel provides an exceptionally apt, though little‐examined, case study (Lupovici 2014, forthcoming), since its public discourse abounds with “existential threats” depicting the Jewish people and polity as invariably endangered (Abulof ). This study examines the Zionist “deep securitization triangle” of geography, democracy, and demography, focusing on the latter.…”

Perceived to slack: secondary securitization and multilateral treaty ratification in Israel

“…Our study contributes to the literature that attempts to comprehensively estimate the relative effect of competing explanations for multilateral treaty ratification (Lupu 2016;Milewicz and Elsig 2014). It is the first to comprehensively apply Securitization theory to the study of Israeli foreign policy, and among the first to link Securitization with policy-making in Israel in general (Lupovici 2014…”