Logo: to the web site of the Swedish Defence University

This thesis analyzed the securitization of COVID-19 in Norway as a negotiation of meaning between the public and Norway’s prime minister. By employing framing analysis and a sociological approach to securitization, this thesis breaks with the binary view of ‘audience acceptance’ in securitization theory’s original framework. Instead, it argues for the relevance of understanding securitization in the context of COVID-19 as an intersubjective process between securitizing actor and audience. While scholars have tended to overlook the audience’s role in securitization processes, this thesis analyzed both the securitizing actor’s and the audience’s perspective. This made it possible to reveal competing views regarding threat perception and emergency measures.  The thesis contributed to the theoretical debate on the audience by highlighting the special ingrained role the public has been assigned in this particular securitization context. The nuanced analysis of audience acceptance showed that despite a general resonance regarding the threat perception, it revealed important tensions regarding the measures and the audience’s participatory role in the process. This questions whether COVID-19 in Norway can be considered to have been ‘successfully securitized’.