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Papers by Zehra Wellmann-Sam
The paper gives an account of Turkey`s domestic climate policies, laws, regulations and other mil... more The paper gives an account of Turkey`s domestic climate policies, laws, regulations and other milestones until 2014 and an extensive overview of relevant actors in the climate field in Turkey, from governmental to civil society, media and scientific key organizations and individuals.
Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen, 2016
The Securitisation of Climate Change, 2016
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 14650045 2014 913028, Nov 7, 2014
ABSTRACT
ClimaSec Working Paper Series Working Paper 6 , 2013
The paper gives an account of Turkey`s domestic climate policies, laws, regulations and other mil... more The paper gives an account of Turkey`s domestic climate policies, laws, regulations and other milestones until 2014 and an extensive overview of relevant actors in the climate field in Turkey, from governmental to civil society, media and scientific key organizations and individuals.
Climate change has been successfully represented as a security concern to such an extent that it ... more Climate change has been successfully represented as a security concern to such an extent that it is firmly established on the political agenda, even though the implementation of concrete policies is disputed. In this paper, we develop an analytical framework to better trace the process of securitising climate change and assess its normative implications. We establish a typology of six climate security discourses on the basis of two dimensions: three levels of referent objects and two logics of securitisation, one that corresponds to the original Copenhagen School framework and one where the threat takes the form of the invocation of risk. We find that there are significant differences in the relative importance of the resulting climate security discourses in Germany and the US, but that normatively, all discourses come with their own problems, which calls for more detailed scrutiny and assessment of climate security discourses and their political effects.
Die Verknüpfung von Klimawandel und Sicherheit ist in den vergangenen Jahren zu einem zentralen p... more Die Verknüpfung von Klimawandel und Sicherheit ist in den vergangenen Jahren zu einem zentralen politischen Problem und Gegenstand zahlreicher wissenschaftlicher Analysen geworden. Dabei greifen die meisten Arbeiten sowohl affirmativ als auch kritisch auf die Theorie der Versicherheitlichung aus der Kopenhagener Schule zurück. Im Mittelpunkt standen bisher die Herausarbeitung unterschiedlicher Formen der Versicherheitlichung sowie die Frage, inwieweit man überhaupt von einer erfolgreichen Versicherheitlichung auf der globalen Ebene sprechen kann. Systematische Analysen der eigentlichen Versicherheitlichungsprozesse in unterschiedlichen Staaten fehlen jedoch bisher. Unser Papier wendet sich daher solchen Prozessen zu. Wir untersuchen vergleichend die Versicherheitlichung des Klimawandels in vier Staaten mit jeweils unterschiedlichen Industrialisierungsgraden und Klimaschutzpolitiken: Deutschland, Mexiko, die Türkei und die USA. Im Zentrum steht dabei die Frage, welche Akteure welche Formen von Versicherheitlichung warum und mit welchen politischen Konsequenzen verfolgt haben. Ein solcher Vergleich lässt Rückschlüsse auf die Bedingungen einer erfolgreichen Versicherheitlichung zu, erlaubt es uns aber auch, die Folgen normativ zu diskutieren.
Climate change has been successfully represented as a security concern to such an extent that it ... more Climate change has been successfully represented as a security concern to such an extent that it is firmly established on the political agenda, even though the implementation of concrete policies is disputed. In this paper, we develop an analytical framework to better trace the process of securitising climate change and assess its normative implications. We establish a typology of six climate security discourses on the basis of two dimensions: three levels of referent objects and two logics of securitisation, one that corresponds to the original Copenhagen School framework and one where the threat takes the form of the invocation of risk. We find that there are significant differences in the relative importance of the resulting climate security discourses in Germany and the US, but that normatively, all discourses come with their own problems, which calls for more detailed scrutiny and assessment of climate security discourses and their political effects.
Climate change has been successfully represented as a security concern at least to such an extent... more Climate change has been successfully represented as a security concern at least to such an extent that it is firmly established on the political agenda, and that there is a widely accepted urgency attached to it, even though the implementation of concrete policies is disputed and has not taken place universally. In this paper, we question the monolithic orthodoxy of linking climate change to security, which often has concentrated too much on traditional security conceptions. We highlight the very different constructions of climate change as a security threat, as they bear different implications for the policy debate. Through a preliminary survey of the relevant debates and policy literature, we establish a systematic typology that allows us to distinguish six climate security discourses on the basis of two dimensions. Firstly, we suggest that a core difference consists of the levels on which the threatened referent objects are located. This leaves us with three levels, a territorial one with states or regions as referent object and a focus on the interrelation of climate change and violent conflict, an individual level in which human beings are the referent object and their vulnerabilities to climatic effects are at the centre of the analysis, and a planetary level in which the planet as such is the referent object. Secondly, we suggest differentiating between two securitisation logics, one that more closely corresponds to the original Copenhagen School security framework, and one where the threat is constructed in a much more diffuse way that is more in line with the invocation of risk. Accordingly, each of the three aforementioned levels can be found either in a security focused specification, proposing rather short-term adaptation measures to tackle the immediate threats, or in a more risk centred shape, with the focus on long term mitigation or precautionary measures to bring the risk to a tolerable level. We argue that we need to alter securitisation theory to allow for such a variation in securitisation, which permits us to better grasp the differences between securitising arguments, their political emergence and their political and ethical consequences.
Books by Zehra Wellmann-Sam
This book provides the first systematic comparative analysis of climate security discourses. It a... more This book provides the first systematic comparative analysis of climate security discourses. It analyses the securitisation of climate change in four different countries: USA, Germany, Turkey, and Mexico. The empirical analysis traces how specific climate-security discourses have become dominant, which actors have driven this process, what political consequences this has had and what role the broader context has played in enabling these specific securitisations. In doing so, the book outlines a new and systematic theoretical framework that distinguishes between different referent objects of securitisation (territorial, individual and planetary) and between a security and risk dimension. It thereby clarifies the ever-increasing literature on different forms of securitisation and the relationship between security, risk and politics. Whereas securitisation studies have traditionally focused on either a single country case study or a global overview, consequently failing to reconstruct detailed securitisation dynamics, this is the first book to provide a systematic comparative analysis of climate security discourses in four countries and thus closes an empirical gap in the present literature. In addition, this comparative framework allows the drawing of conclusions about the conditions for and consequences of successful securitisation based on empirical and comparative analysis rather than theoretical debate only.
The paper gives an account of Turkey`s domestic climate policies, laws, regulations and other mil... more The paper gives an account of Turkey`s domestic climate policies, laws, regulations and other milestones until 2014 and an extensive overview of relevant actors in the climate field in Turkey, from governmental to civil society, media and scientific key organizations and individuals.
Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen, 2016
The Securitisation of Climate Change, 2016
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 14650045 2014 913028, Nov 7, 2014
ABSTRACT
ClimaSec Working Paper Series Working Paper 6 , 2013
The paper gives an account of Turkey`s domestic climate policies, laws, regulations and other mil... more The paper gives an account of Turkey`s domestic climate policies, laws, regulations and other milestones until 2014 and an extensive overview of relevant actors in the climate field in Turkey, from governmental to civil society, media and scientific key organizations and individuals.
Climate change has been successfully represented as a security concern to such an extent that it ... more Climate change has been successfully represented as a security concern to such an extent that it is firmly established on the political agenda, even though the implementation of concrete policies is disputed. In this paper, we develop an analytical framework to better trace the process of securitising climate change and assess its normative implications. We establish a typology of six climate security discourses on the basis of two dimensions: three levels of referent objects and two logics of securitisation, one that corresponds to the original Copenhagen School framework and one where the threat takes the form of the invocation of risk. We find that there are significant differences in the relative importance of the resulting climate security discourses in Germany and the US, but that normatively, all discourses come with their own problems, which calls for more detailed scrutiny and assessment of climate security discourses and their political effects.
Die Verknüpfung von Klimawandel und Sicherheit ist in den vergangenen Jahren zu einem zentralen p... more Die Verknüpfung von Klimawandel und Sicherheit ist in den vergangenen Jahren zu einem zentralen politischen Problem und Gegenstand zahlreicher wissenschaftlicher Analysen geworden. Dabei greifen die meisten Arbeiten sowohl affirmativ als auch kritisch auf die Theorie der Versicherheitlichung aus der Kopenhagener Schule zurück. Im Mittelpunkt standen bisher die Herausarbeitung unterschiedlicher Formen der Versicherheitlichung sowie die Frage, inwieweit man überhaupt von einer erfolgreichen Versicherheitlichung auf der globalen Ebene sprechen kann. Systematische Analysen der eigentlichen Versicherheitlichungsprozesse in unterschiedlichen Staaten fehlen jedoch bisher. Unser Papier wendet sich daher solchen Prozessen zu. Wir untersuchen vergleichend die Versicherheitlichung des Klimawandels in vier Staaten mit jeweils unterschiedlichen Industrialisierungsgraden und Klimaschutzpolitiken: Deutschland, Mexiko, die Türkei und die USA. Im Zentrum steht dabei die Frage, welche Akteure welche Formen von Versicherheitlichung warum und mit welchen politischen Konsequenzen verfolgt haben. Ein solcher Vergleich lässt Rückschlüsse auf die Bedingungen einer erfolgreichen Versicherheitlichung zu, erlaubt es uns aber auch, die Folgen normativ zu diskutieren.
Climate change has been successfully represented as a security concern to such an extent that it ... more Climate change has been successfully represented as a security concern to such an extent that it is firmly established on the political agenda, even though the implementation of concrete policies is disputed. In this paper, we develop an analytical framework to better trace the process of securitising climate change and assess its normative implications. We establish a typology of six climate security discourses on the basis of two dimensions: three levels of referent objects and two logics of securitisation, one that corresponds to the original Copenhagen School framework and one where the threat takes the form of the invocation of risk. We find that there are significant differences in the relative importance of the resulting climate security discourses in Germany and the US, but that normatively, all discourses come with their own problems, which calls for more detailed scrutiny and assessment of climate security discourses and their political effects.
Climate change has been successfully represented as a security concern at least to such an extent... more Climate change has been successfully represented as a security concern at least to such an extent that it is firmly established on the political agenda, and that there is a widely accepted urgency attached to it, even though the implementation of concrete policies is disputed and has not taken place universally. In this paper, we question the monolithic orthodoxy of linking climate change to security, which often has concentrated too much on traditional security conceptions. We highlight the very different constructions of climate change as a security threat, as they bear different implications for the policy debate. Through a preliminary survey of the relevant debates and policy literature, we establish a systematic typology that allows us to distinguish six climate security discourses on the basis of two dimensions. Firstly, we suggest that a core difference consists of the levels on which the threatened referent objects are located. This leaves us with three levels, a territorial one with states or regions as referent object and a focus on the interrelation of climate change and violent conflict, an individual level in which human beings are the referent object and their vulnerabilities to climatic effects are at the centre of the analysis, and a planetary level in which the planet as such is the referent object. Secondly, we suggest differentiating between two securitisation logics, one that more closely corresponds to the original Copenhagen School security framework, and one where the threat is constructed in a much more diffuse way that is more in line with the invocation of risk. Accordingly, each of the three aforementioned levels can be found either in a security focused specification, proposing rather short-term adaptation measures to tackle the immediate threats, or in a more risk centred shape, with the focus on long term mitigation or precautionary measures to bring the risk to a tolerable level. We argue that we need to alter securitisation theory to allow for such a variation in securitisation, which permits us to better grasp the differences between securitising arguments, their political emergence and their political and ethical consequences.
This book provides the first systematic comparative analysis of climate security discourses. It a... more This book provides the first systematic comparative analysis of climate security discourses. It analyses the securitisation of climate change in four different countries: USA, Germany, Turkey, and Mexico. The empirical analysis traces how specific climate-security discourses have become dominant, which actors have driven this process, what political consequences this has had and what role the broader context has played in enabling these specific securitisations. In doing so, the book outlines a new and systematic theoretical framework that distinguishes between different referent objects of securitisation (territorial, individual and planetary) and between a security and risk dimension. It thereby clarifies the ever-increasing literature on different forms of securitisation and the relationship between security, risk and politics. Whereas securitisation studies have traditionally focused on either a single country case study or a global overview, consequently failing to reconstruct detailed securitisation dynamics, this is the first book to provide a systematic comparative analysis of climate security discourses in four countries and thus closes an empirical gap in the present literature. In addition, this comparative framework allows the drawing of conclusions about the conditions for and consequences of successful securitisation based on empirical and comparative analysis rather than theoretical debate only.