The "warming war" : Securitizing climate change at the UN Security Council

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the discursive strategies involved when representatives of small island developing States (SIDS) attempt to securitize climate change in the Security Council, in order to understand which, if any, discursive strategies are successful, and if the securitizing attempt itself is successful. The theoretical framework is based on securitization theory as developed by the Copenhagen school, and the material for the analysis is made up of four meeting records from meetings of the Security Council, ranging from 2007 until 2019. The method chosen to carry out the analysis was discourse analysis. The study found three discursive strategies that were used by the representatives of SIDS; "climate change as a conventional threat"; "climate change and moral responsibility"; and "climate change as an encompassing threat". The study ultimately found that the securitizing attempt was partially successful.