FOREIGN POLICY EXPERTISE: THE RESEARCH POTENTIAL OF THE SECURITIZATION THEORY

The article is a scientific review of the studies of securitization theory, aimed at identifying its possible application to the study of foreign policy expertise. The study characterizes the main actors of securitization of international political issues; highlights the key provisions of securitization theory, which can be used to study foreign policy expertise; offers the author's interpretation of O. Khvostunova's typology of political experts regarding securitization in the framework of expert geopolitical discourse. The findings show that the application of securitization theory can contribute to the development of the scientific notion of foreign policy expertise as a specific network of experts engaged in the geopolitical discourse of the state and influencing foreign policy through it. It happens by having an effect on the geopolitical view of the world of both the political elite and the masses. In the future, the study of securitization steps and securitizing speeches in general can contribute to a deeper understanding of how and on what basis perceptions of foreign policy of decision makers in the security field are formed, what channels are used for this purpose, what role foreign policy expertise and pseudo-expertise play in this process.