This chapter conceptualizes the framework within which securitization occurs and argues that the international sphere is best understood as a social structureSocial structures. Drawing on the example of the UAEUnited Arab Emirates (UAE), it identifies securitization theory as a suitable theoretical and analytical approach to study threat perceptionsThreat perceptions and argues that the theory lacks sufficient consideration of the socio-political context. For this purpose, the chapter presents a framework of securitization conceptualized as an ordering context aptly defined by the English School of IR as the theory of choice for social structuresSocial structures.