Securitization and Identity: The Speech Acts of Bashar al-Assad

Abstract

Security is one of the crucial concepts in International Relations. Due to diversity of the security issues encountered by the states, there is a lack of consensus on the definition of the concept. The traditional understanding of the security focuses on threats militarily and state was at the center. However, different approaches emerged to re-conceptualize the concept by the end of the Cold War. The Copenhagen School and its offshoot securitization is one of these approaches which is being frequently used in International Relations. The aim of this study is to analyze the securitization process of opposition, different identities and other actors by President Bashar al-Assad during the Civil War. This research argues that the opposition is securitized with the help of different identities in order to convince both Syrians and regional and international actors so that the securitizing actor can take the extraordinary measures. This study conducts the methods of literature review to clarify the concept of securitization and under which conditions it took place and discourse and content analysis to highlight the speech acts of Bashar al-Assad during the process. To this end, 46 different speeches and interviews of President Bashar al-Assad are analyzed. In all, it is concluded that speeches/discourses adopted by Assad had implications which served the aims and the targets of his rule and government during the Syrian Civil War.