Analysing the European Union's responses to organized crime through different securitization lenses

Farrand Carrapico, Helena (2014) Analysing the European Union's responses to organized crime through different securitization lenses. European Security, 23 (4). pp. 601-617. ISSN 0966-2839

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

In the past 30 years, organized crime (OC) has shifted from being an issue of little, or no concern, to being considered one of the key security threats facing the European Union (EU), the economic and political fabric of its society and its citizens. The purpose of this article is to understand how OC has come to be understood as one of the major security threats in the EU, by applying different lenses of Securitization Theory (ST). More specifically, the research question guiding this article is whether applying different ST approaches can lead us to draw differing conclusions as to whether OC has been successfully securitized in the EU. Building on the recent literature that argues that this theoretical framework has branched out into different approaches, this article wishes to contrast two alternative views of how a security problem comes into being, in order to verify whether different approaches can lead to diverging conclusions regarding the same phenomenon. The purpose of this exercise is to contribute to the further development of ST by pointing out that the choice in approach bears direct consequences on reaching a conclusion regarding the successful character of a securitization process. Starting from a reflection on ST, the article proceeds with applying a “linguistic approach” to the case study, which it then contrasts with a “sociological approach”. The article proposes that although the application of a “linguistic approach” seems to indicate that OC has become securitized in the EU, it also overlooks a number of elements, which the “sociological approach” renders visible and which lead us to refute the initial conclusion.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	securitization, organized crime, European Union, linguistic approach, sociological approach
Subjects:	L200 Politics M900 Other in Law
Department:	Faculties > Arts, Design and Social Sciences > Social Sciences
Depositing User:	Paul Burns
Date Deposited:	12 Apr 2019 09:19
Last Modified:	10 Oct 2019 20:04
URI:	http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/38956

Downloads