8. Critical Interventions:

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Marshall Beier
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Gulf War ◽  
Security Studies ◽  
Capacity To Act ◽  
Security Discourse ◽  
Security Practices ◽  
Revolution In Military Affairs ◽  
Referent Object

This chapter explores some unconventional questions about somewhat unconventional subjects for Security Studies, a field that has traditionally been more inclined to focus on states in its investigations. In particular, it examines concepts such as ‘acting subject(s)’, which concerns who or what is acting to produce security or insecurity; ‘agency’, which refers to the capacity to act; ‘subjecthood’, which suggests mastery of one’s own agency or the idea that actions are products of one’s autonomous choices; and referent object(s), which are whom or what we seek to make secure. The chapter also discusses ‘smart’ bombs and other advanced weapons of the so-called Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) that moved into popular consciousness beginning with the 1991 Gulf War. Finally, it considers the role of children and Indigenous peoples both in security discourse and actual security practices.

8. Poststructural Insights: Making Subjects and Objects of Security

2018 ◽  
pp. 111-125
Author(s):  
J. Marshall Beier
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Gulf War ◽  
Security Studies ◽  
Capacity To Act ◽  
Security Discourse ◽  
Security Practices ◽  
Revolution In Military Affairs ◽  
Referent Object

This poststructuralist chapter explores some unconventional questions about somewhat unconventional subjects for Security Studies, a field that has traditionally been more inclined to focus on states in its investigations. In particular, it examines concepts such as ‘acting subject(s)’, which concerns who or what is acting to produce security or insecurity; ‘agency’, which refers to the capacity to act; ‘subjecthood’, which suggests mastery of one’s own agency or the idea that actions are products of one’s autonomous choices; and referent object(s), which are whom or what we seek to make secure. The chapter also discusses ‘smart’ bombs and other advanced weapons of the so-called Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) that moved into popular consciousness beginning with the 1991 Gulf War. Finally, it considers the role of children and Indigenous peoples both in security discourse and actual security practices.

Introduction: Strategy in the Contemporary World:

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Baylis ◽  
James J. Wirtz
Keyword(s):  
Computer Systems ◽  
Security Studies ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
Military Power ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Revolution In Military Affairs ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Strategic Studies

This edition explores the role of military power in the contemporary world and the changes that have occurred over the last decade. It examines the debates about whether there has been a revolution in military affairs and the future of warfare, given the phenomenal pace of innovation in electronics and computer systems, which is often referred to as cyberwar. It also considers the strategic implications of the changing structure of global politics and the role of U.S. military power in a world in transition, along with the continuing relevance of various theories of peace and security. This introduction discusses strategic studies, criticisms levelled against strategic studies, and the relationship between strategic studies and security studies.

On Backlash: Emotion and the Politicisation of Security

2019 ◽  
pp. 139-159
Author(s):  
Eric Van Rythoven
Keyword(s):  
Research Agenda ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Security Studies ◽  
Security Discourse ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Epistemic View

This article explores the role of emotion in the politicisation of security through the concept of backlash: the idea of visceral and reactionary episodes where security claims are adamantly rejected and the subject of ‘security’ becomes intensely controversial. Starting by examining the role of emotion in politicisation, I make the case for viewing emotions as playing a key role in the distribution of certainty in security discourse. Building on this epistemic view of emotion, I review how backlash is understood in other fields before tailoring a definition for security studies centered around four constitutive features: reaction, hostility, emotion, and contagion. The final section focuses on the politicising effects of backlash including the mobilisation of backlash movements, the intensification of controversy, and arena shifting. The discussion concludes by suggesting that the concept of backlash offers a promising research agenda for those inquiring into the politicisation of security.

The futures of anticipatory reason: Contingency and speculation in the sting operation

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 314-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sun-ha Hong ◽  
Piotr M Szpunar
Keyword(s):  
Security Studies ◽  
State Control ◽  
Counter Terrorism ◽  
Critical Security Studies ◽  
Security Discourse ◽  
Security Practices ◽  
The Future ◽  
Truth Claims ◽  
To Come ◽  
Sting Operation

This article examines invocations of the future in contemporary security discourse and practice. This future constitutes not a temporal zone of events to come, nor a horizon of concrete visions for tomorrow, but an indefinite source of contingency and speculation. Predictive, preemptive and otherwise anticipatory security practices strategically utilize the future to circulate the kinds of truths, beliefs, claims, that might otherwise be difficult to legitimize. The article synthesizes critical security studies with broader humanistic thought on the future, with a focus on the sting operations in recent US counter-terrorism practice. It argues that the future today functions as an ‘epistemic black market’, a zone of tolerated unorthodoxy where boundaries defining proper truth-claims become porous and flexible. Importantly, this epistemic flexibility is often leveraged towards a certain conservatism, where familiar relations of state control are reconfirmed and expanded upon. This conceptualization of the future has important implications for standards of truth and justice, as well as public imaginations of security practices, at a time of increasingly preemptive and anticipatory securitization.

No umbrella for the rain: Canadian implications following the global revolution in reconnaissance–strike technologies

2021 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-237
Author(s):  
Marc Kieley
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Gulf War ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Canadian Armed Forces ◽  
Ballistic Missiles ◽  
Defence Policy ◽  
Revolution In Military Affairs ◽  
The Government ◽  
Government Of Canada

Global conflicts in 2020 have highlighted the unexpected employment of advanced ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles by developing military powers. The development of ballistic missiles by Iran, or the export of advanced drones by Turkey, are ultimately the result of the American-led revolution in military affairs that, during the Gulf War, established the potential of precision guided weapons and reconnaissance systems. In response, America’s competitors have adapted their military doctrines and developed weapons designed to both counter and copy the West’s technological advantages. As the Government of Canada implements its defence policy—Strong, Secure, and Engaged—it has promised to procure a ground-based air defence system for the Canadian Armed Forces. Careful consideration and analysis are required, however, to ensure that Canada procures the best possible solution given limited funding and a wide array of potential threats.

scholarly journals Us Mob Online: The Perils of Identifying as Indigenous on Social Media

Genealogy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Bronwyn Carlson ◽  
Tristan Kennedy
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Digital Environment ◽  
Collective Identities ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Insight Into

Social media is a highly valuable site for Indigenous people to express their identities and to engage with other Indigenous people, events, conversations, and debates. While the role of social media for Indigenous peoples is highly valued for public articulations of identity, it is not without peril. Drawing on the authors’ recent mixed-methods research in Australian Indigenous communities, this paper presents an insight into Indigenous peoples’ experiences of cultivating individual and collective identities on social media platforms. The findings suggest that Indigenous peoples are well aware of the intricacies of navigating a digital environment that exhibits persistent colonial attempts at the subjugation of Indigenous identities. We conclude that, while social media remains perilous, Indigenous people are harnessing online platforms for their own ends, for the reinforcement of selfhood, for identifying and being identified and, as a vehicle for humour and subversion.

Re-presenting Genocide: The Canadian Museum of Human Rights and Settler Colonial Power

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rita Kaur Dhamoon
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
Colonial Power ◽  
National Narratives ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Settler Societies ◽  
Forced Movement

AbstractIn settler societies like Canada, United States, and Australia, the bourgeoning discourse that frames colonial violence against Indigenous people as genocide has been controversial, specifically because there is much debate about the meaning and applicability of genocide. Through an analysis of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, this paper analyzes what is revealed about settler colonialism in the nexus of difficult knowledge, curatorial decisions, and political debates about the label of genocide. I specifically examine competing definitions of genocide, the primacy of the Holocaust, the regulatory role of the settler state, and the limits of a human rights framework. My argument is that genocide debates related to Indigenous experiences operationalize a range of governing techniques that extend settler colonialism, even as Indigenous peoples confront existing hegemonies. These techniques include: interpretative denial; promoting an Oppression Olympics and a politics of distancing; regulating difference through state-based recognition and interference; and depoliticizing claims that overshadow continuing practices of assimilation, extermination, criminalization, containment, and forced movement of Indigenous peoples. By pinpointing these techniques, this paper seeks to build on Indigenous critiques of colonialism, challenge settler national narratives of peaceful and lawful origins, and foster ways to build more just relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

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