Climate refugee a security issue?: A comparative study of how climate refugees are being represented in media in relation to security issues
2017 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
This thesis aims to describe how climate refugees are constructed in the U.K. and New Zealand daily press from two different security perspectives, the national- and human security. Based upon the ontology of media representation and theories of securitization, a qualitative analysis has been conducted to be able to describe how media representations of climate refugees are made. The use of stereotypical terms to describe climate refugees when being illustrated in media have been compared between the daily press from the U.K. and New Zealand. By combining the securitization theory with the what´s the problem approach, we have been able to provide answers to our research questions of: a) how is the problem of climate refugees constructed in media from a national security and/or human security perspective in each of the selected countries; b) what are the presumed causes of climate refugees according to the two perspectives; c) what are the suggested solutions to the problem of climate refugees; and d) are the depictions of climate refugees different and/or similar between the two selected countries. The analysis has shown that a similar use of securitizing language has been used to describe climate refugees as a national security threat, between the two selected cases. Additionally, the analysis has also revealed that both countries hold a humanitarian perspective towards climate refugees, where focus is placed on their individual security. The analysis has also reviled a small difference concerning the contextualization. Those advocating a national security standpoint tended to describe the climate refugees through the broader subject of global warming. While on the other side of the spectrum, the focus was placed on the individual security of the climate refugees.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2017. , p. 48
Keywords [en]
Environmental refugees, Media representation, Securitization, Human security, National Security, Climate refugees
National Category
Political Science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hv:diva-11429Local ID: EIS501OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hv-11429DiVA, id: diva2:1139624
Subject / course
Political science
Educational program
International Programme in Politics and Economics
Supervisors
Examiners
2017-09-082017-09-082017-09-08Bibliographically approved