Ole Wæver coined the concept of ‘securitization’ (30 years ago) and co-developed what is known as the Copenhagen School in security studies. The theory has been applied worldwide to a wide range of issues from religion to climate change — what difference does it make if, when and how these issues becomes matters of ‘security’? During his stay at Tokyo College he will work empirically on a field where Japanese scholarship is world-leading: economic security. Also, he will engage with philosophers and linguists to deepen the theoretical engine of his analysis: speech act theory. It is generally understood that we “do politics with words”, but especially at present when political speech seems to become increasingly free-floating, it is important to analyse the deeper structures of meaning that political actors fight to shape and mobilise on specific issues. The theory of securitization was successful within the discipline of International Relations, and now professor Wæver attempts to extend this to a more general theory of politics. This task demands interdisciplinary and international collaboration as enabled by Tokyo College.
1999- Professor of International Relations, Dept of Political Science, Univ. of Copenhagen
2022 Jane and Aatos Erkko Visiting Professor in Studies on Contemporary Society, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki
2019 James Fellow in Social Sciences at the Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre (SSSHARC)
2013- Director of CRIC, Centre for Resolution of International Conflicts, University of Copenhagen
2008-2013 Director of CAST, Centre for Advanced Security Theory, University of Copenhagen
2005-2006 Visiting professor, University of California, Santa Cruz1996-1997 Visiting researcher, University of California, Berkeley (SSRC/MacArthur fellowship 2 years)
1991 Lecturer at European University Institute, Florence
1985-1999 Researcher at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Research in Copenhagen (COPRI).
Books:
Security: A New Framework for Analysis (w. Buzan & de Wilde, 1998; Chinese 2002, Czech 2006, Japanese in print) [Most cited publication: 17.507 acc to Google Scholar],
Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security (w Buzan, 2003; Chinese and Persian translations 2009) [2nd most cited: 7.868 acc. to Google Scholars], Identity, Migration and the New Security Agenda in Europe, co-authored by Ole Wæver, Barry Buzan, Morten Kelstrup and Pierre Lemaitre, Pinter 1993 [1905 citations].
International Relations Scholarship Around the World (ed. w. Tickner, 2009).
Assembling Exclusive Expertise: Knowledge, Ignorance and Conflict Resolution in the Global South (co.ed w A Leander), Routledge 2018;
Resolving International Conflict: Dynamics of Escalation, Continuation and Transformation, co-ed w I.Bramsen & P.Poder, Routledge 2019;
Translations of Security: A Framework for the Study of Unwanted Futures, co-author with T.V Berling, U.P.Gad and K.L.Petersen; Routledge 2021;
Polarity in International Relations: Past, Present, Future, ed w N.Græger, B. Heurlin, A.Wivel, Palgrave 2022;
Greenland in Arctic security: Entangled (de)securitization dynamics under climatic thaw and geopolitical freeze, ed w M.Jacobsen, U.P.Gad, Univ of Michigan Pr 2023
Militarising more to develop faster? Uganda’s difficult questions on human rights, governance and economy, edited by Sylvie Namwase, Roland Naluwairo, Zahara Nampewo & Ole Wæver African Studies Bookstore, Kampala 2023.
Ole Wæver was member of the authors’ team for Katherine Richardson et al. Climate change: Global Risks, Challenges & Decisions (CUP 2011).
Most cited articles: ‘Securitization and desecuritization’ in R. D. Lipschutz (red.): On Security. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995 [6.105 Google Scholar citations];
‘The sociology of a not so international discipline: American and European developments in international relations’ International organization, 1998, 52 (04), 687-727 [1179 citations].
<the citations figures are a few months old; I can update them, if you want to include them, but if they are deleted anyways, I will not bother>
Most recent articles:
Charlotte Epstein and Ole Wæver “The Turn to Turns in International Relations”, European Journal of International Relations, 2025.
Peter Marcus Kristensen and Ole Wæver, “A Parochial Internationalization: Surveying the Power and Evolution of Nordic International Relations Scholarship”, Cooperation and Conflict, 2026
Isabel Bramsen and Ole Wæver, “”Conflictualization: A theory of how relations, societies and issues become formed by the logic of conflict”, Cooperation and Conflict, 2026
The Hartmann Prize for ‘a significant and extremely valuable contribution of general societal value in social, humanitarian, scientific or cultural areas within Danish society’ (2024)
The Erik Rasmussen prize of Danish Political Science Association for general contribution to building the discipline.(2022)
The James N. Rosenau Award for the most important contributions to globalization studies, awarded by the International Studies Association. (2020)
Honor dr (Dr.h.c) University of Turku, Finland (2015)
First recipient of the Hesbjerg Foundation Peace Research Prize (2015)
Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog, Chivalric Order of the Danish Royal Family (2014)
Recipient of the Carlsberg Foundation’s Research Prize, probably the best Danish research prize (2012)
Elected to the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters (2007)
