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Securitization, history, and identity: some conceptual clarifications and examples from politics of Finnish war history

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Matti Jutila
Matti Jutila*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
*
*Email: matti.a.jutila@gmail.com
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Extract

This article shows how we can use the securitization framework to study extreme history politics. Securitization refers to a speech act or discursive process in which an actor makes a claim that some referent object, deemed worthy of survival, is existentially threatened. If successful, securitization justifies the use of extraordinary measures to counter the threat. After introducing the concept of securitization in detail, the article presents three ways in which history and securitization can be connected: history can serve as a facilitating condition of securitization; history can be explicitly used to strengthen a securitizing move; or history, or a particular interpretation of it, can be the referent object of securitization. The second half of the article is devoted to a discussion on the role of history in the securitization of national identities. Historical myths are the standard building blocks of national identities; challenging these myths can be presented as threats to the survival of the nation. The article also discusses potential forms of resistance against securitization of history/national identities. Illustrative examples from the political use of WWII history in Finland will be used to show the practical consequences of various conceptual choices.

Keywords

securitizationnational identityhistory politicsFinlandWWII
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 43 , Issue 6 , November 2015 , pp. 927 - 943
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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