A Public Unconvinced: Exploring the effects of the Hong Kong government’s attempt to securitize the 2019-2020 protests
(2024) FKVK02 20241Department of Political Science
- Abstract
- This thesis investigates the Hong Kong government’s discursive framing of the 2019-2020 protests. By applying the Copenhagen School’s securitization theory on a previously untested case, it finds that the Hong Kong government framed the protests as violent, colluding with foreign actors, and with aims to cause harm. Through this portrayal, the government claimed the Hong Kong society needed defending, allowing the Central People’s Government to implement the Hong Kong national security law. Despite the performance of a securitizing move, widespread public disagreement with the framing is found. However, with support for the protests decreasing and no longer supported by a majority, along with the implementation of the law, a partially... (More)
- This thesis investigates the Hong Kong government’s discursive framing of the 2019-2020 protests. By applying the Copenhagen School’s securitization theory on a previously untested case, it finds that the Hong Kong government framed the protests as violent, colluding with foreign actors, and with aims to cause harm. Through this portrayal, the government claimed the Hong Kong society needed defending, allowing the Central People’s Government to implement the Hong Kong national security law. Despite the performance of a securitizing move, widespread public disagreement with the framing is found. However, with support for the protests decreasing and no longer supported by a majority, along with the implementation of the law, a partially successful outcome is noted. As such, the thesis demonstrates the need to view securitizing outcomes on a non-binary scale, also showing the possibility for non-liberal actors to securitize without majority public support. By looking at the limitations of political rights caused by the national security law, the thesis concludes by highlighting the ability for authoritarian-leaning governments to use securitization as a tool to silent critical voices. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9153990
- author
- Hansen, Adam LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- FKVK02 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- securitization, hong kong, national security law, democratic backsliding, discourse analysis
- language
- English
- id
- 9153990
- date added to LUP
- 2024-07-18 14:04:52
- date last changed
- 2024-07-18 14:04:52
@misc{9153990,
abstract = {{This thesis investigates the Hong Kong government’s discursive framing of the 2019-2020 protests. By applying the Copenhagen School’s securitization theory on a previously untested case, it finds that the Hong Kong government framed the protests as violent, colluding with foreign actors, and with aims to cause harm. Through this portrayal, the government claimed the Hong Kong society needed defending, allowing the Central People’s Government to implement the Hong Kong national security law. Despite the performance of a securitizing move, widespread public disagreement with the framing is found. However, with support for the protests decreasing and no longer supported by a majority, along with the implementation of the law, a partially successful outcome is noted. As such, the thesis demonstrates the need to view securitizing outcomes on a non-binary scale, also showing the possibility for non-liberal actors to securitize without majority public support. By looking at the limitations of political rights caused by the national security law, the thesis concludes by highlighting the ability for authoritarian-leaning governments to use securitization as a tool to silent critical voices.}},
author = {{Hansen, Adam}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{A Public Unconvinced: Exploring the effects of the Hong Kong government’s attempt to securitize the 2019-2020 protests}},
year = {{2024}},
}