The securitization of the Covid-19 pandemic in Greece: a just or unjust securitization?

The purpose of this article is to assess the justness or unjustness of the securitization of Covid-19 in the Greek case. To do so, the Just Securitization Theory, is used as articulated by Rita Floyd to examine the following research question: Was there a just initiation and just conduct in the case of the securitization of Covid-19 in Greece? To answer this question, the methodology employed is a mix of methods proposed by Rita Floyd, such as the recourse to natural sciences to establish the actuality of the threat in combination with discourse analysis in political and scientific actors’ speech acts and qualitative analysis of legal policy documents. In total, 85 statements and legal documents were examined for the period 26/02/2020 to 15/06/2020 which is considered to be the first “phase” of the pandemic. Overall, the analysis shows that the securitization of the Covid-19 pandemic in Greece was just. More specifically, there was indeed an existential threat, the securitizing actors were sincere in their intentions to securitize Covid-19, whereas the good gained from this securitization (physical survival and protection of public health) was greater than the harm inflicted (suspension of liberties). In addition, the results show that the securitization of Covid-19 in Greece did not cause more insecurity than it aimed to solve and that the overall response from the Greek Government was proportionate to the threat and respectful of the human rights of the people secured by the threat.