Leiden University MSc War Studies
Security Challenges in a Globalising World
Lecture 1 (9/09/2022)
Ontological security refers to the need to experience oneself as a whole, con nuous person in me — as
being rather than constantly changing — to realise a sense of agency (Giddens, 1991; Laing, 1969: 41–2).
Individuals need to feel secure in who they are, as iden es or selves. Freedom from anxiety.
Ontological security and some recurring features:
- Stability: freedom of anxiety but what may happen next. Security has a low probability of damage to
acquired values. We want tomorrow to be more or less the same as today.
- A stable sense of con nuity and order, as this helps us to give meaning to our lives, that the world is
stable and a safe place, predictable and in general posi ve. It resembles a bubble.
- An important condi on for ontological security is trust and con nuity. If we have to check everything for
possible risks and dangers all the me, we will be anxious all the me.
- We need to have a stable sense of ‘home’ — it can also be a sense of community, na onhood, na onal
iden ty, etc. We need a sense of contract with society and our fellow ci zens so we trust in our leaders
and ins tu ons.
- Without this sense of trust, home, stability and community, distrust will surface which can paralyse us, or
society at large; and our sense of ontological security will be challenged
The concept of ontological security was rst developed by R.D. Laing in the book The Divided Self. He has a
psychoanaly cal approach — existen al anxie es. He connects the mental well-being of the individual to
the society. It has a cri cal approach: the behaviour of a pa ent does not re ect a mental disease but is
expressive of her/his existence. People will get sick from an absence of the assurances derived from
ontological security: autonomy, consistency and iden ty. Another important scholar was Anthony Giddens.
He used a sociological approach to ontological security where he saw societal structures impac ng
ontological security. He stresses the importance of social narra ves and rou nes in which people are
embedded. Narra ves: people need a story about the society they are living in, how they relate to society,
etc. ‘Narra ves are the stories people construct to make sense of their reality. Narra ves help us
understand who we are, where we come from, and the implica ons of that for our current lives. Not
‘individual’ stories – embedded within speci c cultural and historical contexts – they provide cohesion to
and transmit shared beliefs of common origins and iden ty
Narra ves and rou nes: Connected to narra ves are rou nes — enabling people to live their lives in a
stable and more or less predictable way. Ontological security depends on our ability to have faith in those
social narra ves and rou nes in which we are embedded — gives us a sense of iden ty and agency, in
control, etc. Narra ves and rou nes are context-dependent (public space, at home, in class, etc.)
Bell (2019)
- In uence of societal condi ons and transforma ons
- Uncertain es about the future, more choices and opportuni es but more choice can also mean more
complexity, pressure and anxiety (e.g. what university to go to? What programme to follow? Where to
live? How to live? etc.) — the tension between expecta ons and reality
- Not everyone can have it all
- The concept of ontological security typically refers to security not of the body but of the self, the
subjec ve sense of who one is, which enables and mo vates ac on and choice (Mitsen, 2006).
Semester 1, block 1 1
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, Leiden University MSc War Studies
Cri que on the concept of ontological security:
- Emphasising stability: nega ve reading of change
- Status-quo bias
- Can change and disrup on also be posi ve or a libera ng prac ce?
- Rossdale (2015): the radical disrup on of the self can have a posi ve e ect
- Not everybody wants tomorrow to be the same as today
- Individuals and communi es react di erently to change and dynamics
- Related to di erent personali es, di erent social and economic posi ons, age or gender, culture,
mainstream or marginalised, poli cal a lia on, di erent contexts, etc.
- The libera ng force of disrup on can also have cultural dimensions related to iden ty (or iden es)
- Rossdale uses Queer Theory as an analy cal perspec ve: ques oning the stability of iden es and
binaries as a neutral state of a airs/being. Ques oning the binary categorisa on of sexual and gender
iden es. Rossdale is interested in the open mesh of possibili es, gaps and overlaps of iden es.
- Disrup on and rou nes, narra ves, structures and prac ces can lead to both anxiety and libera on
Some argue for radical change, while others feel threatened by this change. Some want to defend the status
quo or want to go back in history, others feel threatened by it. Clashes are not only between individuals or
communi es and the system or the establishment. Clashes within socie es, between di erent sec ons, etc.
For the remainder of this course, we will use of threefold approach. This approach is related to the skill of
reading and understanding current society and future developments. It is related to the fundamental idea
that both security and insecurity are poli cal social and mental construc ons. It is also related to the
fundamental connec on between the macro level and micro level.
Some challenges:
- Connec ng di erent levels: macro & micro. Ontological security relates to individual percep ons as
in uenced by major societal transforma ons. The individual is not our level of analysis although we talk
all the me about people
- Societal transforma ons
- Complexity: individuals and communi es react di erently to change and dynamics, related to di erent
personali es, social and economic posi ons, age and gender, culture, etc.
- Paradoxes and contradictory posi ons because change can be threatening and libera ng
- ‘Total’ ontological security or ‘total’ ontological insecurity does not exist
- Moderate and extremist manifesta ons: people react di erently to a sense of ontological insecurity, from
moderate reac ons to extremist or violent reac ons. As security scholars, we are interested in the more
extreme manifesta ons (our natural bias).
- Analysing societal transforma ons is challenging: we use an academic perspec ve, but the
transforma ons are by nature very poli cal and poli cally sensi ve. The challenge is to analyse and
understand the poli cal sensi vity of those transforma ons.
- e.g.: globalisa on. It can be bene cial for some, as they pro t from a world without borders. For
others, however, globalisa on can be a threat: jobs are disappearing, feelings are lost and le alone,
fear for the future, etc.
- e.g.: migra on. Pars of the popula on feel threatened by migra on. It is not our job to decide whether
it is wrong or right. The essence is that we see, analyse and understand that this is a sensi ve issue.
- e.g.: populism. The rise of populism can be analysed as a counter-reac on to a sense of ontological
insecurity. The ques on is if you understand the emergence of populism and if you can analyse its
poten al consequences on a societal and poli cal level and in the end on a security level.
- Capacity to put yourself in someone else’s shoes
Semester 1, block 1 2
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