Security: Actors, Institutions and Constellations (8921M010)
All documents for this subject (8)
Seller
Follow
giacomoef
Reviews received
Content preview
Notes on the lectures from the course (2024) Security: Actors, Institutions and Constellations.
INCLUDES notes from lectures 1-7 (Total: 26 pages).
Security: Actors, Institutions and Constellations Lecture Notes
(Lectures 1-7)
Table of Contents
Lecture 1.1 Introduction 1
Lecture 1.2 Technology in Security Studies & Beyond 2
Lecture 2: Femicides Across a Region 4
Lecture 3: Research, Disengagement & Deradicalisation Work 7
Lecture 4: The EU, the Governance of Security & the Case of Ukraine 10
Lecture 5: Crisis Management - Governance When it Matters Most 14
Lecture 6: Broadening & Deepening The Study Of Intelligence 18
Lecture 7: Sanctions & (In)Security 23
, 1
Lecture 1.1 Introduction
The Fear of Violent Death
Hobbes’ Moral & Political Philosophy: Theory of the state, solving a series of questions & problems.
It addressed the vast insecurities of the 1650s, reordering political society (state as a unit of power,
doing & politics, & a definitive notion of the people within).
➔ The birth of statism = radical interpersonal insecurity, violence internationally & centralised
violence (via the sovereign > the heavens).
➔ Results:
◆ Creation of the 3 unique agents (the individual, the people & the sovereign).
◆ Creation of:
● Legitimacy = what the sovereign says is legitimate.
● Purpose = move past religious notions towards 1 religious/overarching order
in 1 state.
● Coordination = definitive hierarchy (sovereign → governments → people).
● Accountability = social contract to the people.
➔ Hobbes as a postmodern critical theorist:
◆ Radical of the highest order.
◆ Critical of the aristocratic-dominated cities, imperialism, divine monarchy, gender
norms, & religious lunacy.
➔ Hobbesian statism finally accepted around 1990 (350 years later) with the final collapse of
the imperial powers (e.g. African decolonisation, collapse of the Soviet Bloc) & the creation
of new states.
◆ The birth of modern International Relations (IR) theory = realism, liberal
internationalism & constructivism.
3 puzzles:
1. Why was IR so boring?
● It is NOT enough to describe that IR was so boring → it has remained persistently boring.
● The content & academic substance remained unchanged.
2. Why, sociologically, did IR stay so boring for so long?
● It actively did NOT change.
● Nietzsche’s The Genealogy of Truth:
○ The truths accepted about the world & our place within it are socially
constructed illusions (‘whimsical lies’).
○ This matters because these “dead, boring ideas” are used by academics to
organise their frameworks & constructs.
➔ Dead Ideas: Those that are stable & can be linked up (fixed in time).
● Professional commitment to pass these ideas onto the ‘leaders of tomorrow’.
● To maintain structure & “keep jobs” (“promote those that carry out safe studies”).
➔ Safety = “herding around safe ideas.”
3. Why, scientifically, did IR stay so boring for so long?
● Kuhn’s normal science & paradigmatic crisis
○ Columbarias = professional imperative to reorganise the dead ideas & add new
layers on top.
vs.
, 2
○ Paradigms = paradoxically, great scientific advances require risks that go beyond
the scientific domain. Good science is boring! It is not a task of endless discovery;
it is “mopping up”.
➔ Core principles about what we take in the world.
➔ Science works by constraining the scope of investigation, until small,
specific contributions can be made.
4. A secret fourth puzzle:
● The weird thing about getting locked into paradigms is that the herd (Nietzsche) &
scientists (Kuhn) often get their paradigmatic founders quite wrong.
➔ Nietzsche envisions artistic virtuoso.
➔ Kuhn envisions a rare genius.
● BUT the process of truth-making runs backwards too.
CLAIM = there is a different way of seeing the world than via standard IR perspectives (anomalies
from IR simply pile up). From description to analysis:
● Broadening & deepening is descriptively right, BUT analytically wrong.
➔ A paradigmatic shift, with all the professional, scientific & psychological dynamics
that follow.
● Paradigmatically incompatible = centripetal IR vs. centrifugal Critical Security Studies (CSS).
➔ CSS with new agents, levels of analysis & topics (looking a lot like IR 30 years ago).
● Turing the critical lens back on ourselves:
○ The problem is paradigmatic.
○ “Objective security assessment is beyond our means of analysis; the main point is
that actors & their audiences securitize certain issues as a specific form of political
act.” (Buzan).
Welcome to the “new dark ages”:
● Endless violence at all levels (i.e. brutalism, hypocrisy, fanaticism, mass violence, mass
meaninglessness).
● The world is changing.
● Threat of CSS becoming a congealment of a series of ‘dead ideas’.
Lecture 1.2 Technology in Security Studies & Beyond
An Outlook on Technology & Security Actors
Broad trends & recent developments in the field of security:
● Data-driven practices.
● From reactive → proactive models.
● Surveillance of data flows & infrastructures.
● Pluralisation of security actors (partnerships & security networks).
The world is changing quickly:
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller giacomoef. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $6.44. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
