Page 159 - 201806

Journal of International Security Studies
such challenges as weakened motive force for cooperation, imperfect cooperative
mechanism and the urgent need to deepen cooperation in various fields. Only when
the BRICS countries truly embrace and put into practice the new security concept
can they gather together the demands of all parties, strengthen the momentum for
cooperation, deepen cooperation in such fields as climate, scientific and
technological innovation, agricultural trade and investment facilitation, information
exchange and sharing, improve the three-in-one cooperation mechanism with the
government, scientific research and enterprises involved and facilitate the
development of the global food security governance system that is more favorable to
developing countries.
[Keywords] BRICS, food security, non-traditional security cooperation, global food
security governance
[Author] ZHANG Jiaolong, Ph.D. Student Institute of International Relations, China
Foreign Affairs University (Beijing, 100037).

130 From Climate Change to Climate Security: A Study of State
Securitization Behaviors
LIU Qingyao

[Abstract] Securitization is the process of state actors transforming issues into
matters of security. When an issue in the non-security field has become an important
agenda for the international community, posing a threat or a potential threat to state
security, the surrounding security environment, the threat perception of the
independent capacity to maintain security and the geographical distance between the
state and the home of the issue have become important factors in determining
whether a state would securitize an issue. Among these three key factors, the threat
perception of the independent capacity to maintain security is the core one in state
securitization. Actions taken by the UK and the US with regard to the securitization
of climate change have proved that a global issue in the non-security field would
reduce the distance between a relevant state and the home of the issue to zero. Then
under such circumstances, if a state’s security environment is seriously threatened,
the state would consider its capacity to independently maintain security is also under
grave threat and then the odds are high that the state would securitize the issue.
When a state’s security environment is less threatened, there would be two outcomes.
First, if the state considers its capacity to independently maintain security is not
under serious threat, the state would be less likely to securitize the issue. Second, if
the state considers its abilities to independently maintain security is greatly
threatened, it would be more likely for the state to securitize the issue. To reduce the
barriers to global climate governance caused by some states’ capricious decisions,
the United Nations could make the climate change issue “collectively securitized”
through its collective security mechanism.
[Keywords] securitization, non-traditional security, climate change, climate security
[Author] LIU Qingyao, Ph.D. Student, School of International Relations and Public
Affairs, Fudan University (Shanghai, 200433).
（本期英文编辑：张国帅 高静）

· 156 ·