By Maria Eriksson Baaz and Judith Verweijen At a time when colonial revisionism is seemingly on the rise and articles calling for re-colonization are published even in renown critical journals (though clearly and comfortably not without controversy), turning a critical eye towards ourselves as ‘critical’ scholars might be seen as ‘navel-gazing’ or even as dangerously… Read more »
Month: January 2018
Bringing Different Disciplinary Perspectives to Climate Change and Conflict
The scientific evidence for climate change is unequivocal, and the scientific community continues to refine our understanding of the impacts of these changes. Many of these physical changes, such as heatwaves, droughts and sea-level rise, are projected to adversely affect human wellbeing. The scope of these impacts has prompted serious concern that climate change may… Read more »
Performativity of Security in Military Interventions
By Elke Krahmann Many actors have embraced performance as a measure for the effectiveness and legitimacy of their international governance activities, ranging from the United States government to the World Health Organization and the World Bank. In my recently published article in Security Dialogue, “From performance to performativity: The legitimization of US security contracting and… Read more »
Humanitarian Experimentation
Humanitarian actors, faced with ongoing conflict, epidemics, famine and a range of natural disasters, are increasingly being asked to do more with less. The international community’s commitment of resources has not kept pace with their expectations or the growing crises around the world. Some humanitarian organizations are trying to bridge this disparity by adopting new… Read more »
This Week in South Sudan – Week 1
Tuesday 2 January The Troika (the US, the UK and Norway) called on the armed factions to end all military operations, while threatening to impose individual or group sanctions on those violating the December 2017 cessation of hostility agreement. Radio Tamazuj Factbox: “Protection camp populations in South Sudan” Wednesday 3 January The SPLA claims opposition… Read more »
The Soldier We See
By Julia Welland In contemporary Britain, the figure of ‘The Soldier’ is increasingly visible. S/he (although the figure is, of course, nearly always a ‘he’) appears in documentaries, in art and museum exhibitions, in Armistice Day commemorations, guarding the 2012 Olympics, in ‘boot camp’ exercise regimes, in schools, as the ‘real heroes’ of reality TV… Read more »
Agamben, Hobbes, and Rethinking Security in the Messianic Key
By Sergei Prozorov Contemporary critical security studies increasingly turns to the problematic of political theology. This interest and inquiry into the theological origins of today’s political concepts and categories enables more effective critical interventions in contemporary politics. “Messianism” is one of the less explored aspects of political theology in security studies. While its connotations of… Read more »
This Week in South Sudan – Week 51 & 52
Tuesday 19 December Clashes reported in Lasu area, Central Equatoria State as diplomats began another round of IGAD-led peace talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Wednesday 20 December Volunteers from the “Remembering the Ones We Lost” project continue to gather the names of South Sudan’s uncounted war victims, as the conflict’s official death toll remains unknown…. Read more »