O meio ambiente entre a securitização e a politização: praticabilidades e limites da securitização das mudanças climáticas pela União Europeia

Abstract

In the last two decades, the global temperatures rise has become one of the most prominent environmental concern, albeit exists controversy regarding its causes, its intensity and its impacts on civilization. The possibility of this problem to endanger human existence and the standards of living and development achieved motivated the European Union in 2008 to recognize it as an existential threat, providing the issue with a security dimension. This dissertation aimed at understanding the European process of elevating climate change to the security realm, which Copenhagen School defines as securitization, in order to discuss the potential and limitations of this approach when applied to the environmental sector. To accomplish this goal, the European case was mapped in comparison with the historical and political context and the theory of International Relations through his speeches and relevant documentation, including media production. The starting point was the establishment of a parallel between the traditional and the widener approach of security, from which the study sought to identify the reasons and circumstances that led the European Union to securitize climate change, the guiding principles of its rhetoric and the implications of the process. The analysis of this set of factors subsidizes the reflection on the best rationality to deal with the issue: if the ordinary politics that prioritizes precautionary and cooperative practices or the security approach based on urgent and exceptional measures.