Is (Successful) Securitization Possible for Climate Change?

Especially with the end of the Cold War, the scope of security studies, which has an important place in the field of international relations, has started to “broaden” and “deepen” beyond the conventional boundaries and research areas of classical security theory such as state security, military security, and conflict prevention. In this context, the Copenhagen School is one of the important approaches that offers a different perspective to security studies with its “sectoral security approach”, “regional security complex” and “securitization” theories. The Copenhagen School’s “securitization” theory has provided an appropriate framework for addressing the issues of “environment” and “climate change”, which have been on the agenda of security studies since the last quarter of the 20th century, from a security perspective. However, the negative perspective of the Copenhagen School theorists on the securitization of climate change due to the extraordinary and even military measures that may be taken if the issue of climate change is securitized has been met with caution and criticism by many theorists who have addressed the issue. In light of these criticisms and the developments in the field of climate change in the last quarter century, this study focuses on the question of whether it is possible to approach the securitization of climate change from a different perspective.