Securitization theory posits that security threats are socially constructed. Yet, how audiences influence the failure and success of securitization attempts is still not well understood. In this article, I argue that audiences bring their normative perspectives to bear upon the interpretation of securitization attempts. This theoretical addendum, I hold, permits a fuller appreciation of how audiences express their agency when receiving securitization attempts. I examine the Singaporean context, where the discursive backdrop favours the construction of security threats. While the Singaporean government has successfully securitized many issues, Lee Kuan Yew’s attempt to securitize the country’s declining birth rates failed dramatically. This occurred, I contend, as the Singaporean public was deeply offended by the normative premises of Lee’s eugenicist argument, thus refusing to engage with the issue on the government’s terms. These objections were only fuelled by the eugenics programme the government later introduced, ultimately causing the government to discontinue its pronatalist policies and significantly revise its rhetoric. This article develops the understanding of how securitization unfolds by expanding on the conceptualization of audience behaviour. By examining Singapore, which has failed to inspire many analyses of securitization, it also diversifies securitization theory’s empirical reach, highlighting its intelligibility within non-democratic contexts.

中文翻译：

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观众机构遭遇证券化失败的奇怪案例：公众对新加坡政府优生计划的抵制

安全化理论认为，安全威胁是社会构建的。然而，观众如何影响证券化尝试的失败和成功仍不清楚。在本文中，我认为受众将他们的规范观点用于对证券化尝试的解释。我认为，这个理论附录可以让我们更全面地了解受众在接受证券化尝试时如何表达他们的代理权。我研究了新加坡的背景，那里的话语背景有利于安全威胁的构建。虽然新加坡政府已经成功地将许多问题安全化，但李光耀将该国不断下降的出生率安全化的尝试却惨遭失败。我认为，这种情况的发生是因为新加坡公众对李优生学论点的规范性前提深感不满，因此拒绝按照政府的条件参与这个问题。这些反对意见只是由于政府后来推出的优生计划而加剧，最终导致政府停止其生育政策并大幅修改其言论。本文通过扩展受众行为的概念化，加深了对证券化如何展开的理解。通过考察未能激发对安全化的许多分析的新加坡，它也使安全化理论的实证范围多样化，突出了其在非民主背景下的可理解性。