The Environmental in Security

The Environmental in Security Securitization Theory and Russian Environmental Security Policy Erdem Lamazhapov Master Thesis Peace and Conflict Studies 45 credits Department of Political Science Faculty of Social Sciences UNIVERSITY OF OSLO June 2020 Word Count: 34,939 The Environmental in Security: Securitization Theory and Russian Environmental Security Policy II © Erdem Lamazhapov 2020 The Environmental in Security: Securitization Theory and Russian Environmental Security Policy Erdem Lamazhapov http://www.duo.uio.no/ Trykk: Fridtjof Nansens Instituttet III Abstract Environmental security is one of the non-military aspects of security in international security studies, making it both misunderstood and mysterious in its ideational content. This thesis presents an application of the securitization theory in the context of securitization of the environment in Russia. Applying quantitative document stream and relative power methods and qualitative methods of discourse analysis, I draw upon a database of Russian legal and administrative documents from 1987 to 2019. Finding the core assumptions of the securitization theory correct, this thesis challenges it in regards to the possibility of distinction that security is an area beyond politics, whereas safety is a part of normal politics. Providing insight into the intentions and moves of key securitizing actors, as well as referent objects of security, this thesis concentrates on both international and domestic aspects of environmental securitization in Russia. Designed as an embedded mixed-methods case study, the thesis confirms its findings in subunit analysis of securitization of the environment by Russia during the NATO Operation Allied Force and in the Arctic. The thesis finds that it is difficult to characterize security as being beyond politics, as well as desecuritization in the Russian context is improbable. Concluding the discussion of securitization in the Russian context, the thesis reflects on the role of security and language in identity construction. IV Acknowledgements First and foremost, I am gratefully indebted to Research Professor Elana Wilson Rowe of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs for her invaluable guidance and wisdom, as well as great patience as a mentor. Steering me in the creative process, she has always kept the metaphorical doors of her office open even in these troubled times. I would also like to thank everyone at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, especially my academic contact Research Director Pål Wilter Skedsmo and Research Professor Arild Moe, whose academic friendship was extremely valuable for this thesis. Finally, I feel eternal gratitude to my family, both in health and in memory, without whose unconditional support this accomplishment would have been impossible. V List of Abbreviations AMEC Arctic Military Environmental Cooperation CIS Commonwealth of Independent States CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union CSTO Collective Security Treaty Organization EAEC Eurasian Economic Commission EAEU Eurasian Economic Union ECHR European Court of Human Rights EMERCOM Ministry of the Russian Federation for Affairs for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters ENMOD Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques EurAsEC Eurasian Economic Community FRY Federal Republic of Yugoslavia GKChP State Committee on the State of Emergency Goskomprirody / State Committee of the Russian Federation for Environmental Goskomecology Protection Goskomsever State Committee of the Russian Federation for Northern Affairs GOST Inter-State Standard ICTY International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991 ISS International Security Studies MNR Ministry of Natural Resources NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization OAF Operation Allied Force OSCE Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe RSFSR Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic SCO Shanghai Cooperation Organization SCRF Security Council of Russian Federation SOZD Legislation Support System SSR Soviet Socialist Republic VI UN United Nations U.N. GAOR United Nations General Assembly Official Records US United States of America USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics WTO Warsaw Treaty Organization VII Table of Contents 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 2 Securitization Theory and the Environment ....................................................................... 3 2.1 The Meaning of Environmental Security .................................................................... 3 2.1.1 The Copenhagen School as a Theoretical Basis ................................................... 6 2.1.2 Philosophical Foundations of the Securitization Theory ..................................... 7 2.1.3 Modifications of the Classical Securitization Theory .......................................... 9 2.2 Towards Agent-relative Analysis of Security ........................................................... 11 2.3 Summary .................................................................................................................... 17 3 Methodology/Methods ..................................................................................................... 18 3.1 Research Design ........................................................................................................ 18 3.1.1 Case Study as Research Design ......................................................................... 18 3.1.2 Embedded Case Study as Internal Architecture ................................................. 19 3.1.3 Data Collection ................................................................................................... 21 3.2 Methods ..................................................................................................................... 22 3.2.1 Quantitative Methods ......................................................................................... 22 3.2.2 Qualitative Methods ........................................................................................... 24 3.3 Summary .................................................................................................................... 26 4 Security in Russia ............................................................................................................. 27 4.1 The Rise of the Environmental Security in Russia .................................................... 29 4.1.1 The Securitizing Move ....................................................................................... 33 4.1.2 Audience Acceptance ......................................................................................... 36 4.2 Summary .................................................................................................................... 38 5 Environmental Security in Russian Foreign Policy ......................................................... 40 5.1 Securitization of Environment: Systematic Picture ................................................... 40 5.1.1 Data .................................................................................................................... 41 5.1.2 Referent Object: What Kind of Security? .......................................................... 43 5.1.3 Audiences: Who With? ...................................................................................... 44 5.1.4 Analysis .............................................................................................................. 45 5.2 Russian Federation and Environmental Securitization .............................................. 47 5.2.1 Securitizing move ............................................................................................... 48 5.3 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 54 VIII 6 Environmental Security Begins at Home ......................................................................... 56 6.1 Preliminary Large-N Analysis ................................................................................... 57 6.1.1 Burstiness Analysis ............................................................................................ 59 6.1.2 Who is the Securitizing Actor? What is the Referent Object? ........................... 60 6.1.3 Zoom in on the 1990s: The Formative Decade .................................................. 62 6.1.4 Audience Acceptance ......................................................................................... 64 6.2 Part 2: Discourse Analysis ......................................................................................... 65 6.2.1 Changing Tides: the Last of the USSR .............................................................. 65 6.2.2 Securitization through the Legislative – the Creative Period ............................. 66 6.2.3 Silent 2000: Desecuritization or Institutionalized Security? .............................. 73 6.3 Summary .................................................................................................................... 76 7 Environmental Security Localized ................................................................................... 78 7.1 Yugoslavia ................................................................................................................

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