Poststructuralism in Security Studies

CHAPTER 6: POSTSTRUCTURALISM CHAPTER 6: POSTSTRUCTURALISM Poststructuralism is not a single, coherent theory that can be applied to a political issue in a pre-given way. Poststructuralism is a loosely defined umbrella term used to group together scholars who share some key epistemological, ontological, and methodological assumptions and have a common interest in a particular form of critique and criticality. Poststructuralist scholars are interested in the discursive power of knowledge and start from the presumption that security is never neutral or natural, but deeply political. For poststructuralist security scholars, the main concern is what security does in terms of political practices. Security Studies: An Introduction. 4th Edition. Paul D. Williams and Matt McDonald. Routledge 2023. Paperback ISBN - 9781032162737 Information Classification: General

POSTSTRUCTURALISM: KEY THINKERS POSTSTRUCTURALISM: KEY THINKERS Theorist Contributions Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) Derrida was interested in how Western thought was structured by binaries (inside/outside, strong/weak etc). He developed deconstruction as a method to point to (and challenge) these binaries. He also argued there was no reality without representation , suggesting a key role for analysing text. Michel Foucault (1926-1984) Foucault s work on concepts such as discipline, sovereignty, governmentality and biopolitcs has been widely adopted in current explorations of surveillance, border control and risk management. He is well known for his claim that all knowledge is imbued with power relations. Roland Barthes (1915-1980) Barthes was a crucial figure in cultural studies. He demonstrated the role of popular culture and the everyday in underpinning key political dynamics, including nationalism and imperialism. Judith Butler (1956- ) Butler s theory of performativity has been particularly taken up by recent generations of feminist and queer scholars, not least given her claim that gender and even sex was not a biological reality but was socially produced. Security Studies: An Introduction. 4th Edition. Paul D. Williams and Matt McDonald. Routledge 2023. Paperback ISBN - 9781032162737 Information Classification: General

POSTSTRUCTURALISM AND DISCOURSES POSTSTRUCTURALISM AND DISCOURSES Poststructuralists are interested in how meanings are produced rather than explaining why a particular outcome happened. A particular focus is on the effects of language and representation, including of security and threat. Following Michel Foucault, poststructuralists emphasize the importance of discourses: frameworks of meaning that condition how we think and speak about things. Discourses can serve to define the limits of the possible. Prominent security discourses like the Cold War or the War on Terror , for example, conditioned the way leaders and citizens in much of the world interpreted ideology, political struggle, multiculturalism, protest, immigration or even religious beliefs. Security Studies: An Introduction. 4th Edition. Paul D. Williams and Matt McDonald. Routledge 2023. Paperback ISBN - 9781032162737 Information Classification: General

THE LOGIC OF SECURITY THE LOGIC OF SECURITY When it comes to discourse about security, poststructuralists believe it has a particular logic. Following Jacques Derrida, security always relies on the designation of an other , which is usually portrayed as threatening to us . In this way, representations of security tell us both who we are and of whom we need to be afraid. In the process, representations of security and threat also tie in- groups to the State and the promise of protection. They also enable exclusion of and violence towards those who are seen as different or threatening the other . For this reason, many poststructuralists are deeply sceptical of the concept of security, and suggest the need to resist or escape it. Security Studies: An Introduction. 4th Edition. Paul D. Williams and Matt McDonald. Routledge 2023. Paperback ISBN - 9781032162737 Information Classification: General

POSTSTRUCTURALISM AND SECURITY IN POSTSTRUCTURALISM AND SECURITY IN ACTION ACTION Campbell, Writing Security (1992) Hansen, Security as Practice (2006) This was a ground-breaking book for employing the poststructural approach to modern security issues. David Campbell argued that during the Cold War, discourses of danger about communism and the USSR in the United States served in powerful ways to define what it meant to be American and influenced national security policies. This text illustrates the importance of representation, identity politics, and the politics of security in a poststructural tradition. In this important book, Lene Hansen explores Western discourses about the wars in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1990s. She made the case that different representations of the war (from Ancient Hatreds to Serbian nationalism ) encouraged very different international responses to it. This text illustrates the powerful ways in which discourse can drive substantive responses to crises. Security Studies: An Introduction. 4th Edition. Paul D. Williams and Matt McDonald. Routledge 2023. Paperback ISBN - 9781032162737 Information Classification: General

POSTSTRUCTURALISM AND REPRESENTATION POSTSTRUCTURALISM AND REPRESENTATION Because poststructuralists view representation as constitutive of the social world, not separate from it, the examination of language and representation is central. Bleiker (2001; 2017) and others have pointed to the importance of aesthetic representation, which notes the gap between representation and what is represented. The significance and role of representation, then, has meant that the sites of examination for poststructuralists are extensive, and beyond solely language or text. More recent poststructural examinations of representation and their significance, including as applied to security, include examinations of images, narratives and emotions through literature, visual art, photography, music, popular culture, bodies and the everyday, for example. Security Studies: An Introduction. 4th Edition. Paul D. Williams and Matt McDonald. Routledge 2023. Paperback ISBN - 9781032162737 Information Classification: General

WHAT SECURITY DOES CASE STUDY 1: WHAT SECURITY DOES CASE STUDY 1: MILITARIZATION MILITARIZATION In their emphasis on examining the politics of security what security does poststructuralists have examined militarization. Militarism and militarization are commonly understood as State preparation for war, and poststructuralists understand these dynamics as both social and cultural phenomena. Poststructuralist analysis points to how militarization and constant preparation for war help normalize violence and warfare, sometimes even representing it as an ultimate expression of nation-hood or citizenship. Remembrance events often have this effect. The form and symbols of these events powerfully convey the message that war is foundational to the nation and citizenship. Security Studies: An Introduction. 4th Edition. Paul D. Williams and Matt McDonald. Routledge 2023. Paperback ISBN - 9781032162737 Information Classification: General

WHAT SECURITY DOES CASE STUDY 2: DRONE WHAT SECURITY DOES CASE STUDY 2: DRONE WARFARE WARFARE Drone warfare is another example employed to demonstrate the politics of security in the poststructural tradition. Poststructuralists point to the ways in which humans and bodies are abstracted from warfare and strategy, with dehumanization serving to make some bodies more vulnerable than others. This is applied to the example of drone warfare, where unmanned aerial vehicles allow technologically advanced states to abstract their (human) soldiers from conflict while rendering others acutely vulnerable from afar. The case for drone warfare, poststructuralists point out, is often strong if the trauma, death and destruction of this security logic remains invisible. Security Studies: An Introduction. 4th Edition. Paul D. Williams and Matt McDonald. Routledge 2023. Paperback ISBN - 9781032162737 Information Classification: General

ESSAY / EXAM QUESTIONS ESSAY / EXAM QUESTIONS How does security operate as a discourse constituting fear and insecurity? How does a logic of security function in discourses on migration? What is power? Discuss with reference to two current security issues. How do discourses on terrorism produce a particular terrorist subject- body? What bodies are made invisible? How is visual language political in understandings of security threats? How memorializations remembered/valued and whose are not? does the Power/Knowledge of war? nexus war work experiences in official Whose are Security Studies: An Introduction. 4th Edition. Paul D. Williams and Matt McDonald. Routledge 2023. Paperback ISBN - 9781032162737 Information Classification: General

WEBSITES AND AUDIO WEBSITES AND AUDIO- -VISUAL RESOURCES VISUAL RESOURCES Websites and Audio Visual Resources Histories of Violence A great online resource centre for rethinking the problem of violence, including videos introducing key thinkers: https://www.historiesofviolence.com I am an American - Professor Cynthia Weber s film project challenging post-9/11 official narratives of multiculturalism: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO5EWEV_oZGWpT65arLia7g The Disorder of Things - Blog by IR scholars for For the Relentless Criticism of All Existing Conditions Since 2010 : https://thedisorderofthings.com Warscapes - An independent online magazine reporting from and about current conflicts across the world, using fiction, non-fiction, poetry, interviews, book and film reviews, photo-essays and retrospectives of war literature from the past fifty years. http://www.warscapes.com Iraq Body Count An ongoing project that records the violent deaths that have resulted from the 2003 military intervention in Iraq. https://www.iraqbodycount.org Watch the Mediterranean Sea - An online mapping platform to monitor the deaths and violations of migrants' rights at the maritime borders of the EU. http://www.watchthemed.net #NotABugSplat Art project in Pakistan visualising and thereby humanising victims of drone attacks, by speaking back to drone operators. https://notabugsplat.com #BlackLivesMatter Movement created as a result of Police violence and anti-Black racism in the USA. A useful way of thinking about what happens when those who are supposed to ensure security in reality might be a source of insecurity. Available at: http://blacklivesmatter.com Films exploring relevant post-structural themes: The Matrix (1999) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8e-FF8MsqU Blade Runner (1982) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eogpIG53Cis Fight Club (1999) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUXWAEX2jlg Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBEke6JixyE The Big Lebowski (1998) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngV0RBhGZmE Security Studies: An Introduction. 4th Edition. Paul D. Williams and Matt McDonald. Routledge 2023. Paperback ISBN - 9781032162737 Information Classification: General