Does 'Shifting Securities' Shift Securitization Theory?

An exploration of theoretical concerns raised by Marie Gillespie et all in, "Shifting Securities," considers how the nature of an increasingly more pluralist & complex British society could be ruptured by conflicting security narratives. Three ways the study challenges securitization theory are considered. First, it is contended that no analysis of "Shifting Securities" can be understood as linear. Second, any such analysis requires a "reassessment of who might be considered conceptually to be a securitizing actor." Although it is presupposed that only the government can perform the securitizing move, other actors, including policy-makers & news producers, could have enough social power to allow them to perform certain securitizing functions. Third, "Shifting Securities" presents a more complex representation of deeply empowered citizens-cum-audiences than the under-theorized role of the audience presented in traditional securitization theory. It is concluded that "Shifting Securities" sharpens the focus on theory in a political way that securitizes Britain's counter-terrorist discourse & suggests that "the discourse itself provides an existential threat to contemporary (multicultural) British society. J. Lindroth