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Security challenges in a globalizing world. Final paper
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this paper analyzes the manifest "The Great Replacement" by Brenton Tarrant, the man responsible for the Christchurch shootings.
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Leiden UniversityCrisis and Security Management: Intelligence and National Security
Dr. J. van Buuren
Wordcount: 3124 (incl. in-text references)
, 2
Introduction
Using an ontological security lens, this paper analyzes the manifest "The Great Replacement"
by Brenton Tarrant, the man responsible for the Christchurch shootings. The main objective
of this study is to provide an answer to the central question: To what extent can the
Christchurch-shootings be explained by the perpetrator’s sense of ontological insecurity,
based on his manifest The Great Replacement?
The analysis of the manifest is part of a broader attempt to read complex interactions of
actors and communities with significant alterations in society in which their sense of
ontological (in)security is constructed. In this intricate societal web the perception of security
of lone actors, such as Tarrant, is naturally formed by prevailing political and cultural
discourses. Therefore, this study ties together the cognitive, social, and political aspects that
are integrated into the conceptual understanding of ontological security.
In the following section, the literature review lays the theoretical groundwork required
for the selection of the drivers. The third section then presents these drivers of ontological
security including their operationalization and rationalization based on the literature. The
analysis section reveals the extent the selected drivers were part of the sense of ontological
insecurity displayed by Tarrant in the manifest. In the last section, this paper presents an
answer to the main research question that synthesizes the analysis’s main elements. In the
conceptual framework of ontological security, the conclusion simultaneously aims to indicate
the wider significance of the case analysis and to critically engage with the reviewed
literature.
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Literature review
Existential anxiety
Existential anxiety, as defined by Kinnvall and Mitzen (2020, p. 244), signifies an abstract
feeling of worry that arises regardless of an identified threat. The variety of emotions and
actions due to their multifaceted nature makes it difficult for political leaders to securitize the
sense of anxiety (Ibid, p.247). On the contrary, the emotions associated with fear can be
impartially objectified, making the politics of fear an appealing strategy to accomplish
political objectives (Browning, 2018a, p.337). The main consequence is that the politics of
fear point to physical security rather than addressing the foundational existential anxiety,
risking leaving people in a state of ontological insecurity (Kinnvall & Mitzen, 2020, p.244).
This ontological insecurity is deeply linked to human nature and is something that
individuals must learn to manage throughout their lives (Kinnvall & Mitzen, 2020, p.246).
The emphasis on stability, as highlighted by Kinnvall and Mitzen (2020), can sometimes be
misconstrued to enforce a “status quo bias” (p.240), preventing constructive change. Jervis
(2019), therefore reinforces the added value of vernacular security, which does not adhere to
a universal conceptualization of security and instead focuses on context-specific studies to
contextualize how individuals and communities construct security.
Ontological Security: The Management of Existential Anxiety
The lens of ontological security was founded on the psychoanalytical approach by Robert D.
Laing in The Divided Self to conceptualize how the constitution of the Self relates to one's
management of existential anxiety (Rossdale, 2015, p.3). According to Laing (2010), to
maintain a solid sense of ontological security, one entrusts on the established affirmation of
one's subjective sense of Self (ibid, p.42). In a dynamic society in which confrontation with
change and unpredictability is imminent, consistency and predictability grant a social actor
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