Article published in:
Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 20:3 (2021) ► pp. 407–429

Beyond the exceptional

Tracing the repercussions of a security speech act

| University of Turku
| University of Turku
Since the 1980s, debates on security have expanded and security has become a catchphrase in virtually every area of life. In Finland, the government elected in 2003 began its four-year period in power by launching a special Internal Security Programme (ISP) that stressed the threat of social exclusion. Altogether four ISPs have been launched in Finland since 2004. They all repeat the menace of social exclusion. In this article, we examine how these speech acts materialised on the level of legislation. Our study suggests that in Finland, the securitization of exclusion was only accepted in the media. Overall it ‘failed’, as on the level of law, internal security and exclusion were not, in the main, connected when security measures were justified. On the other hand, we contend that by introducing more monitoring and less privacy – especially among youth – the legislation effectively opened novel avenues for ‘security nothings’.
Keywords: Finland, content analysis, internal security, securitizing, social exclusion
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Constructing security as exception and routine in theory and practice
    • 2.1The theory of securitization
    • 2.2Social exclusion in Finland and in the contents of the ISPs
  • 3.Data and methods
  • 4.Analysis: Stressing crime and dodging exclusion
    • 4.1Two groups of bills
    • 4.2Increasing police powers and rewriting the penal code
    • 4.3Reforming administration and expanding co-operation
  • 5.Results: The absence of social exclusion in legislation referring to internal security
  • 6.Conclusion: Identifying ‘security nothings’ beyond the exception
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 21 July 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.19060.lah
References
Aaltonen, Mikko, and Petri Danielsson
2017 Rikollisuuden rakenne ja kehitys. [The Development and Structure of Crime.] In Rikollisuustilanne 2016. Helsinki: Helsinki University.Google Scholar
Balzacq, Thierry
2005 “The Three Faces of Securitization: Political Agency, Audience and Context.” European Journal of International Relations 11(2): 171–201. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2011 (ed.) Securitization Theory. How Security Problems Emerge and Dissolve. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
2015 “The ‘Essence’ of Securitization: Theory, Ideal Type, and a Sociological Science of Security.” International Relations 29(1): 103–113. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bardy, Marjatta, Minna Salmi, and Tarja Heino
2001 Mikä lapsiamme uhkaa? Suuntaviivoja 2000-luvun lapsipoliittiseen keskusteluun. Helsinki: Stakes. [What is Threatening our Children? Guidelines for the Child Policy Discussions in 2000s.]Google Scholar
Berghman, Jos
1995 Social Exclusion in Europe: Policy Content and Analytical Framework. In Beyond the threshold, ed. by Graham Room. Southampton, Policy Press.Google Scholar
Bigo, Didier
2006 “Internal and External Aspects of Security.” European Security, 15(4): 385–404. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2011 “The Mobius Ribbon of Internal and External Security(ies)”. In Identities, Borders, Orders: Rethinking International Relations Theory, ed. by Albert, Mathias, David Jacobson and Yosef Lapid, 91–116. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
2016 “Rethinking Security at the Crossroads of International Relations and Criminology.” British Journal of Criminology 56(6): 1068–1086. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bourbeau, Philippe
2014 “Moving Forward Together: Logics of the Securitisation Process”. Millennium: Jounal of International Studies 43(1):187–206. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bruun, Kari
2016 “Problematizing internal security: Crime, community and social exclusion.” Cogent Social Sciences 2(1). CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Buzan, Barry
1991 People, States and Fear: An Agenda for International Security Studies in the Post-Cold War Era. 2nd ed. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.Google Scholar
Buzan, Barry, and Ole Wæver
2003 Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Buzan, Barry, Ole Wæver, and Jaap de Wilde
1998 Security: A New Framework for Analysis. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
C.A.S.E.
2006 “Critical Approaches to Security in Europe: A Networked Manifesto.” Security Dialogue 37(4): 443–487. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Castel, Robert
1995 Les pièges de l’exclusion. [Pitfalls of Exclusion.] Lien Social et Politique 341: 13–21.Google Scholar
Crawford, Adam
2009 “Governing Through Anti-Social Behaviour”. British Journal of Criminology, 49(6): 810–31. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Crawford, Adam, and Steven Hutchinson
2016 “Mapping the Contours of ‘Everyday Security’: Time, Space and Emotion.” British Journal of Criminology 56(6): 1184–1202. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Demirsu, Ipek
2017 “Talking Security and Rights: The Framing of Counter-Terrorism Legislation in the UK.” Journal of Language and Politics 16(5): 658–82. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Duke, Simon, and Hanna Ojanen
2006 “Bridging Internal and External Security: Lessons from the European Security and Defence Policy.” Journal of European Integration, 28(5): 477–494. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Eriksson, Johan, and Mark Rhinard
2009 “The Internal-External Security Nexus: Notes on an Emerging Research Agenda”. Cooperation and Conflict 44(3): 243–267. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Floyd, Rita
2018 “Parallels with the Hate Speech Debate: The Pros and Cons of Criminalising Harmful Securitising Requests.” Review of International Studies 44(1): 43–63. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Helne, Tuula
2002 Syrjäytymisen yhteiskunta. [The Society of Exclusion]. Helsinki: Stakes.Google Scholar
Hiilamo, Heikki, Heikki Niemelä, Pertti Pykälä, Marja Riihelä, and Reijo Vanne
2012 Sosiaaliturva ja elämänvaiheet. Suomen sosiaaliturvan kehitys esimerkkien ja tilastojen valossa. [Social Security and the Cycle of Life. The Development of Finnish Social Security in Light of Statistics and Examples.] Helsinki: Kelan tutkimusosasto.Google Scholar
Huysmans, Jef
2000 “The European Union and the Securitization of Migration.” Journal of Common Market Studies 38(5): 751–777. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2011 “What’s in an Act? On Security Speech Acts and Little Security Nothings.” Security Dialogue 42(4–5): 371–83. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ilmakunnas, Ilari, and Pasi Moisio
2014 Köyhyys- ja syrjäytymisriski Suomessa EU2020-tavoitteen valossa. [Risk of Poverty and Exclusion in Finland in Light of EU2020 goals.] In Suomalaisten hyvinvointi 2014, ed. by Vaarama, Marja, Sakari Karvonen, Laura Kestilä, Pasi Moisio and Anu Muuri (eds.). Tampere: THL.Google Scholar
ISP
2004 Arjen turvaa. Sisäisen turvallisuuden ohjelma 2004. [Everyday Security. Internal Security Programme.] Helsinki: Ministry of the Interior.Google Scholar
2008 Turvallinen elämä jokaiselle. Sisäisen turvallisuuden ohjelma 2008. [A Safe Life for Everyone. Internal Security Programme.] Helsinki: Ministry of the Interior.Google Scholar
2012 Turvallisempi huominen. Sisäisen turvallisuuden ohjelma 2012. [A Safer Tomorrow. Internal Security Programme.] Helsinki: Ministry of the Interior.Google Scholar
Jenks, Chris
2005 Childhood. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Korkman, Sixten
2011 ”Onko hyvinvointivaltiolla tulevaisuutta?” [Does the Welfare State Have a Future?] Helsinki: Elinkeinoelämän Valtuuskunta.Google Scholar
Lahti, Raimo
2017 “Towards a More Efficient, Fair and Humane Criminal Justice System: Developments of Criminal Policy and Criminal Sanctions during the last 50 years in Finland.” Cogent Social Sciences 3(9). CrossrefGoogle Scholar
McDonald, Matt
2012 “The Failed Securitization of Climate Change in Australia.” Australian Journal of Political Science 47(4): 579–592. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Milovanovic, Dragan
1994 A Primer in the Sociology of Law. Albany, New York: Harrow and Heston.Google Scholar
Mythen, Gabe, and Sandra Walklate
2016 “Counterterrorism and the Reconstruction of (In)security: Divisions, Dualisms, Duplicities.” British Journal of Criminology 56(6): 1107–1124. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Palola, Elina
2014 ”Tätä lakia voidaan soveltaa ainoastaan erittäin harkiten”. Nuoret koulutuspudokkaat ja toimeentulotuen perusosan alentamisen harkinta. [”This law may be applied only with great caution”. Using Discretion in Reducing the Basic Income Security of Young Dropouts.] In Harkittua? Avauksia sosiaaliturvan harkintavallan tutkimukseen ed. by Laura Kalliomaa-Puha, Toomas Kotkas, and Marketta Rajavaara, 96–113. Helsinki: Kelan tutkimusosasto.Google Scholar
Penttilä, Irmeli, Olli Kangas, Leif Nordberg, and Veli-Matti Ritakallio
2003 Suomalainen köyhyys 1990-luvun lopulla – väliaikaista vai pysyvää? [Finnish poverty in the end of 1990s – transient or persistent?] Helsinki: STM.Google Scholar
Police Barometer
2016 Helsinki: Ministry of Interior.Google Scholar
Roe, Paul
2008 “Actor, Audiences and Emergency Measures.” Security Dialogue 39(6): 615–635. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Salter, Mark B.
2011 “When Securitizing Fails: The Hard Case of Counter-terrorism Programs”. In Securitization Theory. How security problems emerge and dissolve, ed. by Thierry Balzacq, 116–132. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sandberg, Otso
2015 Hallittu syrjäytyminen – Miten syrjäytymisestä muodostui lähes jokaiseen meistä ulottuva riski? [Controlled exclusion – How exclusion became a risk touching us all?] Tampere: Tampere University Press.Google Scholar
Schuilenburg, Mark, and Ronald van Steden
2014 “Positive Security: A Theoretical Framework”. In Positive Criminology: Reflections on Care, Belonging and Security, ed. by Mark Schuilenburg, Ronald van Steden and Brenda O. Breuil 19–32. The Hague, NL: Eleven International.Google Scholar
Searle, John
1965 “What is a Speech Act?” In Philosophy in America, ed. by Max Black, 221–239. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Shore, Cris, and Susan Wright
2011 “Conceptualising Policy: Technologies of Governance and the Politics of Visibility” in Policy Worlds. Anthropology and the Analysis of Contemporary Power, ed. by Cris Shore, Susan Wright, and Davide Però, 1–25. Oxford: Berghahn Books.Google Scholar
Sipilä, Jorma
1985 Sosiaalipolitiikan tulevaisuus. [The Future of Social Policy.] Helsinki: Tammi.Google Scholar
Solhjell, Randi, Elsa Saarikkomäki, Mie, B. Haller, David Wästerfors, and Torsten Kolind
2018 “We are Seen as a Threat. Police Stops of Young Ethnic Minorities in the Nordic Countries.” Critical Criminology 27(2): 347–361. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Trombetta, Maria J.
2011 “Rethinking the Securitizing of the Environment: Old Beliefs, New Insights”. In Securitization Theory. How security problems emerge and dissolve, ed. by Thierry Balzacq, 135–150. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Virta, Sirpa
2013 “Governing Urban Security in Finland: Towards the ‘European model’”. European Journal of Criminology 10(3): 341–353. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Wæver, Ole
1995 “Securitization and Desecuritization”. In On Security ed. by Ronnie Lipschutz, 46–86. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar