Twenty-five Years of Securitization Theory: A Corpus-based Review

Twenty-five years after its initial formulation, securitization theory is at a crossroads: attempts to critically scrutinize achievements and shortcomings proliferate, concerns about the theory’s eurocentrism are articulated, heated row shakes field following accusations of racism. In this unstable context, present article systematically reviews corpus 171 papers published in 15 major International Relations journals since 1995, identifying two imbalances characterizing research. First, rich theoretical development has not been matched by sustained efforts strengthen empirical work; second, globally embraced, displaying instead narrow, distinctly local anchoring. By shedding light on these issues their relationships, review aims provide clear actionable observations around which scholars could productively re-organize ongoing debates controversies.