Social Desecuritization and Praxeology in Pro-Migrant Manifestations: From Theory to Practice

The analysis that is sought to formulate in this paper looks at security studies and migration issues through praxeological lenses. It sheds light on a critical approach (desecuritization) to explain the importance of a critical method (praxeology) in the observation of pro-migrant manifestations undertaken by ordinary people of civil society. Such manifestations are social expressions and collective actions aimed at contesting the definitions about what traditionally counts as a security issue for the nation states. Considering that desecuritization and social praxis complement each other towards a critical view of security through a sociological locus, this paper places an emphasis on both the deconstructive role of critical security studies (CSS) and the constitutive accounts of praxeology against states’ practices of securitization. By exploring the theoretical assumptions of desecuritization and praxeology, and subsequently moving them to social applications, this paper seeks to contribute to the international relations (IR) critical literature, insofar as the empirical unfolding of pro-migrant manifestations articulated by ordinary people against securitization has been receiving little attention within the IR academic community. Although carried out at a micro level, the empirical cases explored throughout this paper are useful as a bridge to a critical public understanding about what security means in our everyday life.