Securitization Debates: Bringing the Political Economy Back In? The Case of Lithium Battery Technology and Energy Security

Abstract

This paper aims to introduce and test the core theoretical idea of double securitisation and of the need to bring political economy back into discussions of (at least some) security agendas. It also argues the importance of technology and technological change in shaping, and potentially in undermining, security agendas. It identifies a case for exploring questions of security and securitization in parallel with a political economy enquiry in at least some cases, the versions of securitization which engage with both with discourse and speech acts and with markets and complex actor relationships through markets.