This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (1) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Roe, P. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Actor, Audience(s) and Emergency Measures: Securitization and the UK's Decision to Invade Iraq

Central European University, Budapest, Hungary

The concept of securitization has produced a considerable amount of debate over the meaning of security. However, far less attention has been paid to the role of audiences and their relationship to actors in the securitization process. Informed by the work of Thierry Balzacq (2005), and through analysis of the decision of the UK government to join with the USA in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, in this article I show that although the general public can indeed play a valuable role in providing an actor with `moral' support concerning the `securityness' of an issue, more crucial, however, is the `formal' support provided by parliament concerning the `extraordinaryness' of the means necessary to deal with it. My argument is thus that securitization can in this way be seen as a distinct two-stage process marked by a `stage of identification' and a `stage of mobilization'.

Key Words: securitization • audience • Iraq • weapons of mass destruction • Tony Blair

Security Dialogue, Vol. 39, No. 6, 615-635 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0967010608098212


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Vaughn The Unlikely Securitizer: Humanitarian Organizations and the Securitization of Indistinctiveness Security Dialogue, June 1, 2009; 40(3): 263 - 285. [Abstract] [PDF]