Several crises have burst during the last years over the globe. Such crises include the financial-debt crisis, the migration challenge (mainly) Europe faces, the COVID-19 pandemic which completely altered the world as we knew it, the climate change with its terrifying repercussions, the emergence of populism and radicalization all over the world, Russia’s war on Ukraine and currently the terrorist attack Hamas launched against Israel leading to a major number of civilian casualties and unprecedented atrocities and to a hard response from Israel. Having to face multiple crises popping one after another, leaders all over the world proceeded to extended securitizations of a vast number of issues leading to what a scholar recently characterized as the ‘securitization of everything’. New security apparatuses emerged marked by the distinctive feature of securitizations: the adoption of emergency measures to tackle the threat, whatever this was. Amidst this brand-new meta-security landscape, desecuritization initiatives seem to loss their impetus. Is the rising tendency of the ‘securitization of everything' going to produce counter-desecuritization attempts instead of sparking fresh debates on counter-securitization and desecuritization initiatives?

This special issue aspires to advance current debates and to offer a fresh frame of reference on securitization and desecuritization in the whole range of the security sectors that the Copenhagen School proposed: military, economic, political societal, environmental and health.

The special issue “The securitization of ‘everything’. Towards a new meta-security era of counter-desecuritization attempts?” invites original research papers that concentrate (but are not limited) on the following:

1. The Securitization of everything

2. Desecuritization initiatives and strategies

3. Counter-desecuritization initiatives and attempts

4. The implementation of the Just Securitization and Desecuritization theory in securitization/desecuritization contexts

5. The intersection of ethical dilemmas and real politic initiatives when making security politics

Are you interested in contributing a manuscript to this Research Topic?

The securitization of ‘everything’. Towards a new meta-security era of counter-desecuritization attempts?