Theorizing the social foundations of exceptional security politics

Rights, emotions and community

Bibliographic Data

ID8911245
AuthorsLudvig Norman (0000-0002-4547-1661, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume53
Issue1
Pages84-100
Publication date2017-07-12
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCooperation and Conflict (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0010-8367 • E-ISSN: 1460-3691
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0010836717716722
OpenAlexW2756095858
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited61

This article theorizes the social processes through which purportedly liberal democratic states compromise fundamental rights in times of perceived security crises. It has become increasingly common to suggest that a general culture of fear serves both as the motor and the outcome of exceptional security politics. This article suggests instead that the transgression of fundamental rights in the name of security is intimately connected to collective feelings of humiliation and the reassertion of self-worth through efforts to re-establish the integrity of imagined communities. To demonstrate this, the article highlights the dual character of rights, having both a formal and a symbolic function, associated with collective emotions. By theorizing the connections between rights, emotions and belonging the article offers the building blocks for a more nuanced and possibly more accurate understanding of why exceptional security politics tend to elicit such broad public support in spite of its often-glaring contradictions to fundamental principles of liberal democracy

Collective security · Compromise · Democracy · Humiliation · International relations · Law and economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Global Security and Public Health · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security