Securitization Theory or a Well Overlooked Old: On the Philosophical and Theoretical Premises and Origins of the Theory

More than 20 years have passed since B. Buzan, O. Wver and J. de Wilde published their Security: A New Framework for Analysis, which has become a classic in the discipline of security studies. Although Russian scholars increasingly attempt to use the securitization theorys conceptual apparatus in their research, the knowledge of the theory itself remains rather fragmentary. The overwhelming majority of existing papers refer to the so-called Copenhagen Schools (CS) intellectual heritage, while more comprehensive approaches and recent studies remain almost unknown among Russian scholars. The author attempts to fill this gap. This article is first in line of a series of studies, entirely devoted to the phenomenon of securitization: from the earliest milestones to the modern stage of development of the theory. The paper examines the theoretical and philosophical premises, as well as the ideas and assumptions of the securitization theory, first formulated by O. Wver in the late 1980s. The author refers to the original texts of the main figures of the CS: O. Wver and B. Buzan, conceptualizing the history of the concept of securitization and immersing the reader into the atmosphere of security studies field at the end of the 20th century. As a result, it becomes possible to determine the key elements of the early theory of securitization: security as a speech act, national security as a main focus of study, post-structural realism as a research agenda of O. Wver, and the idea of security as a negative meaning. The article concludes that despite the shortcomings of the early theory of securitization noted by many critics, it was based on a valuable and fruitful idea - an attempt to go beyond the notion of security as an absolute good or a metaphysical entity, which was typical of traditional and many alternative approaches to the definition of security.

Reframing cancer: challenging the discourse on cancer and cancer drugs—a Norwegian perspective

Background As the range of therapeutic options in the field of oncology increases, so too does the strain on health care budgets. The imbalance between what is medically possible and financially feasible is frequently rendered as an issue of tragic choices, giving rise to public controversies around health care rationing. Main body We analyse the Norwegian media discourse on expensive cancer drugs and identify four underlying premises: (1) Cancer drugs are de facto expensive, and one does not and should not question why. (2) Cancer drugs have an indubitable efficacy. (3) Any lifetime gained for a cancer patient is an absolute good, and (4) cancer patients and doctors own the truth about cancer. Applying a principle-based approach, we argue that these premises should be challenged on moral grounds. Within the Norwegian public discourse, however, the premises largely remain unchallenged due to what we find to be unjustified claims of moral superiority. We therefore explore alternative framings of the issue of expensive cancer drugs and discuss their potential to escape the predicament of tragic choices. Conclusions In a media discourse that has seemingly stagnated, awareness of the framings within it is necessary in order to challenge the current tragic choices predicament the discourse finds itself in. In order to allow for a discourse not solely concerned with the issue of tragic choices, the premises that underlie it must be subjected to critical examination. As the field of oncology advances rapidly, we depend on a discussion of its opportunities and challenges that is meaningful, and that soberly addresses the future of cancer care—both its potential and its limits.

Gender Qualities and Roles of Villains: Presented in North-American Web Comic Homestuck by Andrew Hussie

In this article, using the popular North American comic Homestuck by Andrew Hussie (2009-2016), we look at the roles assigned to various antagonistic characters based on their gender. In the 21st century, the world has become more complicated and has ceased to be divided into black and white, absolute good and absolute evil. Literature and popular culture have become more complex, and with it the image of the antagonist has changed, the antagonist has ceased to be just a villain who does evil just because this is his role in the story. The idea of non-binary gender situations, when the usual traditional stereotypes could not describe reality, appeared. A revision of the traditionally masculine and feminine qualities took place, and feminine softness, diplomacy, and compliance began to be viewed not as a weakness, but as a privilege. At the same time, traditionally masculine qualities such as aggressiveness, self-confidence, and intransigence are no longer viewed exclusively in a positive way. This article discusses what the image of modern villains is and how their villainous role relates to their gender qualities.

History as Antidote to Wounded National Pride: Politics of History in Kemal Tahir’s Devlet Ana

This article analyses Devlet Ana, Kemal Tahir’s novel on the rise of the Ottomans, within the scope of the politics of history. Through an analysis of Tahir’s novel, the article reveals the political and ideological forces that brought about a reactionary, monolithic, and totalising understanding of history and historiography in the Turkish literary institution. The article argues that despite Tahir’s allegedly Marxist framing, his understanding of history—driven by an inferiority complex and Westophobia—hardly goes beyond an ethical binarism in which absolute good or evil racial and civilisational nature determines everything.

RELIGIOUS IDENTITY: “US” AND “THEM” AS GLOBAL, LOCAL, AND GLOCAL (BELARUS, GERMANY, RUSSIA)

The history of the 19th and 20th centuries has highlighted a number of specific aspects of the phenomenon of religious identity, the roots of which can be traced back to the Reformation. The “language of respondents” (“language of the first order”) and “language of experts” (“language of the second order”) are distinguished, differing as observation of reality and observation of observers of reality. The study analyzes ideas about “us”, “them”, global, local, and glocal on materials from Belarus and Russia in comparison with materials from Germany. The article considers alternative forms of personal and group identification, which have gone through a number of historical stages of their relationships, having retained their significance to the present time, often interpreted as a relationship of absolute “good” with absolute “evil”, while in one case one religion is “good”, and in a friend - another.

Philophobia: From Post-Critical to Neo-Critical Pedagogy Through Art Critique (and a Pinch of Hate)

While post-critical pedagogy urges us to educate out of and toward love for the world, in this article I argue against the privileged status of love in educational discourse. I hold that renewing the world is impossible without critique, indeed without a pinch of hatred. I suggest, therefore, moving from post to neo-critique, to renewing the world by renewing critique. I start with discussing some good reasons for hating the world, and then turn to the concept of critique, which post-critical pedagogy is by no means the first to attack. A look at the thorough analysis of the modern concept of critique offered by German historian Reinhart Koselleck uncovers the deep contradictions inherent to its totalizing, rationalistic presuppositions that see nothing but absolute good and absolute evil. Koselleck’s comments on premodern critique point the way to a more complex concept of critique, which transcends such binary divisions. In the last section of this article, I take some steps in this direction, fleshing out the concept of neo-critical pedagogy by thinking of art criticism.

Dialectics of the subjective and the objective in the substantiation of law by the classics of German philosophy

Понимание абсолютности оснований духовных ценностей человека, позволяющее трактовать императивность норм права и морали как объективный результат акта его свободы, возможно лишь в актуализации процесса мышления. Эта актуализация должна быть и может быть только собственным актом человека, явлением субъективности его воли. Однако задача теоретического изображения этого процесса впервые могла быть поставлена и решена только классиками немецкой философии. Анализ их позиций позволяет сделать вывод о том, что право и мораль генетически не связаны друг с другом: право не опосредовано моралью и не является его абстракцией. При этом право и мораль содержательно не противоречат друг другу, поскольку являются результатом развития единой идеи абсолютного блага и между ними существует своего рода предустановленная гармония, заданная «духом истории». Understanding the absoluteness of the foundations of a person's spiritual values, which makes it possible to interpret the imperativeness of the norms of law and morality as an objective result of the act of his freedom, is possible only in the actualization of the thinking process. This actualization should and can only be a person's own act, a manifestation of the subjectivity of his will. However, the task of theoretically depicting this process for the first time could be posed and solved only by the classics of German philosophy. An analysis of their positions allows us to conclude that law and morality are not genetically related to each other: law is not mediated by morality and is not its abstraction. At the same time, law and morality do not contradict each other substantively, since they are the result of the development of a single idea of ​​absolute good and between them there is a kind of pre-established harmony set by the “spirit of history”.

La dimension néoplatonicienne du Fondement Ignatien (au contexte du tout des Exercices spirituels de saint Ignace de Loyola

God is the foundation and goal of man. The way to God, from the state of disgrace to a happy relationship with God, is also the “foundation” of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, including the Foundation. In the Foundation there is a Neoplatonic way to God as absolute Good− Truth−Beauty. The spiritual way, continued in Weeks of the Ignatian retreat, includes the stages of purification, enlightenment and unification. This way is thus also an existential principle present in Christian Neoplatonism, having its reception in all cycle of Ignatian Exercises. The article to concern the relationship between the theology of the Foundation and Christian Neoplatonism, with reference to the whole of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

Introduction

To engage Martin Robison Delany (1812–1885) is to confront the complexities and paradoxes of nineteenth-century black American leadership. He embodied the utilitarianism and pragmatism that the late August Meier described as the defining attributes of nineteenth-century black leadership.1 He refused to confine his life and struggles within the Manichaean good-versus-evil framework. There was no absolute good or absolute evil in Delany’s worldview. On the contrary, in crucial historical moments and contexts, Delany acknowledged only complex contending forces and interests, each with discernible merits and demerits. By characterizing Delany as someone who could not be classified “with either the good guys or the bad guys,” Delany aficionado Victor Ullman captured his ambiguity, or what many of Delany’s contemporaries perceived as his behavioral eccentricity....