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Lewis Ranieri: 1948–: Father of Securitization

Edward Morris

in Wall Streeters: The Creators and Corruptors of American Finance

The chapter describes Lewis Ranieri’s role in the creation of mortgage-backed bonds and other securitized investments.

Mitigation, Management, and Resolution of Sectarianism under Mubarak

Mariz Tadros

in Copts at the Crossroads: The Challenges of Building Inclusive Democracy in Egypt

This chapter takes a micro-level look at the causes of communal violence against Copts: places of worship, the escalation of petty, non-sectarian disputes, and gender relations in which women are ... More

This chapter takes a micro-level look at the causes of communal violence against Copts: places of worship, the escalation of petty, non-sectarian disputes, and gender relations in which women are often use as pawns for religious mobilization. This is done through the examination of a number of specific cases. It also looks at role of the SSI in the securitization of Muslim–Christian relations, and in both the incitement and management of conflicts.Less

Domesticating Security: Gated Communities and Cooperative Apartment Buildings in New York City and Long Island, New York

Setha Low

in Spaces of Security: Ethnographies of Securityscapes, Surveillance, and Control

The impact of the U.S. security concerns is not only seen in political and spatial restrictions on public space or inscribed in militarized borders, but also in the increasing penetration of the ... More

The impact of the U.S. security concerns is not only seen in political and spatial restrictions on public space or inscribed in militarized borders, but also in the increasing penetration of the private realm of home. This domestication of security concerns through the architecture, urban design and management of private residential communities addresses homeowners’ sense of social and financial insecurity through socioeconomic segregation, controlled physical environments and racist discourses. These securitization practices, the securityscapes that are a result of architectural and social infrastructures and how they work can be uncovered through an ethnographic analysis of housing regimes and the affective, discursive and bodily practices that make up and regulate home life.Less

The Dodd–Frank Act and the Regulation of Risk Retention in Mortgage-Backed Securities

Cem Demiroglu and Christopher M. James

in Perspectives on Dodd-Frank and Finance

Professors Cem Demiroglu and Christopher James discuss the economic rationale for the regulation of risk retention for mortgage backed securities and review empirical work on risk retention. ... More

Professors Cem Demiroglu and Christopher James discuss the economic rationale for the regulation of risk retention for mortgage backed securities and review empirical work on risk retention. Dodd-Frank requires residential mortgage-backed securities sponsors to retain at least 5% of the credit risk of the mortgage. When mortgages are securitized, sponsors have less incentive to gather soft information about loan quality. There is evidence, however, that investors are aware of this decrease in incentives and price these securities appropriately. Possible refinements to the risk retention rules are proposed.Less

The Trouble with the Persian Gulf

Mehran Kamrava

in Troubled Waters: Insecurity in the Persian Gulf

Studying security in the Persian Gulf requires a multi-dimensional approach and needs to go beyond state-centered and state-exclusive approaches to security issues. In addition to military, ... More

Studying security in the Persian Gulf requires a multi-dimensional approach and needs to go beyond state-centered and state-exclusive approaches to security issues. In addition to military, diplomatic, and balance of power considerations, elements of human security also need to be examined, particularly perceptions of otherness that lead to sectarian sensibilities. Also important are mutual threat perceptions that foster and perpetuate security dilemma.Less

The Persian Gulf Security Architecture

Mehran Kamrava

in Troubled Waters: Insecurity in the Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf’s security architecture is inherently unstable and insecure due to four primary reasons. First, America’s heavy-handed presence in and “footprints” across the region are a source of ... More

The Persian Gulf’s security architecture is inherently unstable and insecure due to four primary reasons. First, America’s heavy-handed presence in and “footprints” across the region are a source of chronic tension and resentment by both state and non-state actors throughout the region. Second, state actors feel vulnerable to external threats and therefore foster highly securitized national and regional environments. Third, this insecurity is reinforced by the rise of identity politics across national boundaries. Identity politics has always had a measure of salience across the Middle East in general and the Persian Gulf region in particular. This appeal would most likely not have been as powerful had it not been for the widespread inattention of state actors to elements of human security—the fourth reason for the instability of the prevailing security architecture.Less

The Intractable Security Dilemma

Mehran Kamrava

in Troubled Waters: Insecurity in the Persian Gulf

A number of developments have combined to make the Persian Gulf’s security dilemma intractable and self-sustaining. These have been both structural—a product of the larger geostrategic environment ... More

A number of developments have combined to make the Persian Gulf’s security dilemma intractable and self-sustaining. These have been both structural—a product of the larger geostrategic environment within which the region finds itself—and derived from the policy choices of state actors both within and outside of the region. To begin with, vast geographic discrepancies between much larger, poorer states, alongside small super-rich mini-states have made the Persian Gulf region an enduring conflict zone. The very nature of the phenomenon of security dilemma, namely its self-sustaining and self-perpetuating character, has also been highly consequential. Finally, the region’s security dilemma derives from a basic lack of trust among the actors involved in the region, regardless of whether of not they form alliances over specific issues.Less

A Securitization Scheme for Resolving Europe’s Problem Loans

Brunella Bruno, Giuseppe Lusignani, and Marco Onado

in Finance and Investment: The European Case

This chapter proposes a comprehensive, pan-European way of addressing the issue of non-performing exposures. We contend that securitization is the most effective way for banks to sell the bulk of ... More

This chapter proposes a comprehensive, pan-European way of addressing the issue of non-performing exposures. We contend that securitization is the most effective way for banks to sell the bulk of their troubled loans. To this end, we propose a numerical example to describe the main characteristics of a common scheme of securitization to be applied at the European level. Such a scheme, as a European blueprint for implementation at the national level, is meant to attract funds from a wide array of investors, with a public support compatible with the current rules on state aid.Less

Far-Right Versus Islamist Extremism

Tahir Abbas

in Islamophobia and Radicalisation: A Vicious Cycle

This chapter explores how the debate on multiculturalism has securitized the issue of integration, problematizing the ‘Muslimness’ of Muslims in questions of political violence and extremism. This ... More

This chapter explores how the debate on multiculturalism has securitized the issue of integration, problematizing the ‘Muslimness’ of Muslims in questions of political violence and extremism. This dynamic combines a set of cultural, political, theological and sociological debates around identity and belonging. It also connects with issues of immigration, integration, intelligence, counterterrorism, policymaking and securitization, and in the process, further ‘othering’ an already beleaguered body of people. Given the current reductions to public spending in most Global North economies, the ongoing impact of the war on terror, and limited community, cultural and intellectual development, the challenges facing Muslim minorities are likely to endure for the near future. While the Middle East is currently facing its own internal trials and tribulations, and the wider Muslim world often lags behind the West when it comes to technological advances, divisions are likely to increase and tensions grow as the global continues to intersect with the local in shaping and playing out identity politics.Less

The European Union: Indifference, Security and Economic Interests, Prestige

Catherine Gegout

in Why Europe Intervenes in Africa: Security Prestige and the Legacy of Colonialism

Chapter six shows that even the European Union, which gives a high priority to addressing development problems, and which is legally constrained to act in accordance with international law, often ... More

Chapter six shows that even the European Union, which gives a high priority to addressing development problems, and which is legally constrained to act in accordance with international law, often adopts a realist type of foreign policy in Africa. First, in terms of aid and trade (including arms trade), the European Union privileges relations with strong economies in the North of Africa, South Africa, and oil-resource states. The second section demonstrates that the European Union plays a limited diplomatic role in conflicts in Africa, it is securitizing its development policies, and has deployed civilian operations which face difficulties on the ground. Then, an analysis of EU military interventions in Africa shows that they are not consistent, and are either discussed but not carried out, or limited in time and space. The fourth section focuses on motives. The European Union has never intervened primarily for humanitarian motives. EU states do not have a consistent approach towards conflicts, and when they discuss intervention, they often fail to give any priority to European solidarity. As a result, and as expected by realism, member states are more likely not to intervene, or to intervene unilaterally or in ad hoc interventions, than to work through the EU framework.Less

Links between Domestic and Regional Security

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen (ed.)

in The Changing Security Dynamics of the Persian Gulf

This chapter examines the myriad linkages between domestic and regional security and how these are evolving across the Persian Gulf. The Persian Gulf noticeably did not share in the evolution of ... More

This chapter examines the myriad linkages between domestic and regional security and how these are evolving across the Persian Gulf. The Persian Gulf noticeably did not share in the evolution of security structures that took place in other world regions such as Eastern Europe or Latin America during the 1980s and 1990s. Instead, the fallout from the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003 and policy responses to the Arab Spring in 2011 led to the growth of what Kristian Coates Ulrichsen labels a “geopolitical straitjacket” that contributed to the rise of sectarian identity politics and the emergence of the dangerous new threat from ISIS. Coates Ulrichsen details the policy dilemmas that ISIS presents to policymakers in GCC states who face the additional pressure of having to take sensitive decisions against the backdrop of a potentially prolonged period of low oil prices and fiscal stress.Less