‘Defending Memory’: Exploring the Relationship Between Mnemonical In/Security and Crisis in Global Politics
Abstract
This article outlines the theoretical foundations and the themes covered by this special issue. By focusing on securitization of historical memory, our goal is to contribute to Critical Security studies by highlighting the potential of securitization of memory as an emerging research program in this field. A state’s history and how it is presented, interpreted, altered, and contested form an essential element of its identity. In securitized contexts, historical memory becomes a security issue when both state and non-state actors engage in “defending memory”—a situation when “our” past is viewed as misunderstood by “Others”, and it becomes critical to defend “our” memory, which is seen as essential for the survival of “our” state. Employing the notion of “defending memory” enriches the study of crises in international relations, allowing us to conceptualize them as engines of new discourses. These theoretical insights are tested by case studies of memory politics in Germany, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Ethiopia and Rwanda, highlighting the importance of emotional discourses and (re)burial practices.
References
Albert, M, Jacobson, M & Lapid, Y (ed) 2001, Identities, borders, orders. Rethinking In-ternational Relations Theory, University of Minnesota Press.
Baldwin, D 1997, ‘The Concept of Security, Review of International Studies, vol. 23, no. 01, pp. 5-26.
Balzacq, T (ed) 2011, Securitization Theory: How Security Problems Emerge and Dissolve, Routledge.
Berenskoetter, F 2014, ‘Friendship, Security, and Power’, in S Koschut & A Oels-ner, (eds), Friendship and International Relations, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 51–71.
Bially Mattern, J 2005, “Why ‘Soft Power’ Isn’t So Soft: Representational Force and the Sociolinguistic Construction of Attraction in World Politics,” Millenni-um, vol. 33, no. 03, pp. 583–612.
Bilton, T et al. 1996, Introductory Sociology, 3rd ed, Palgrave Macmillan.
Buzan, B, Wæver, O & de Wilde, J 1998, Security: A New Framework for Analysis, Lynne Rienner.
Campbell, D 1998, Writing Security. United States Foreign Policy and the Politics of Identity, University of Minnesota Press.
Croft, S 2012, Securitizing Islam: Identity and the Search for Security, Cambridge University Press.
Cullinane, M P & Ryan D, eds, 2015, U.S. Foreign Policy and the Other, Berghahn.
Diez, T 2005, “Constructing the Self and Changing Others: Reconsidering ‘Norma-tive Power Europe’,” Millennium, vol. 33, no. 03, pp. 613-636.
Ejdus, F 2017, ‘Critical Situations, Fundamental Questions and Ontological Inse-curity in World Politics,’ Journal of International Relations and Development, vol. 21, no. 04, pp. 883–908.
Elias, N 1985, The Loneliness of the Dying, Continuum.
Gaufman, E 2017, Security Threats and Public Perception: Digital Russia and the Ukraine Crisis, Palgrave Macmillan.
Giddens, A 1991, Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age, Pol-ity Press.
Greve, P 2018, ‘Ontological Security, the Struggle for Recognition, and the Mainte-nance of Security Communities,’ Journal of International Relations and Develop-ment, vol. 21, no. 04, pp. 858-882.
Hansen, L 2006, Security as Practice: Discourse Analysis and the Bosnian War, Routledge.
Krause, K 1998, ‘Critical Theory and Security Studies: The Research Programme of Critical Security Studies’, Cooperation and Conflict, vol. 33, no. 03, pp. 298-333.
Kinnvall, C 2004, ‘Globalization and Religious Nationalism: Self, Identity and the Search for Ontological Security,’ Political Psychology, vol. 25, no. 05, pp. 741-767.
Laclau, E & Mouffe, C 1985. Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Demo-cratic Politics, Verso.
Lupovici, A 2012, ‘Ontological Dissonance, Clashing Identities, and Israel’s Unilat-eral Steps towards the Palestinians,’ Review of International Studies, vol. 38, no. 04, pp. 809-833.
Makhortykh, M 2018. ‘#NoKievNazi: Social Media, Historical Memory and Secu-ritization in the Ukraine Crisis’ in V Strukov & V Apryshchenko (eds), Memory and Securitization in Contemporary Europe, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 219-247
Mälksoo, M 2015. “‘Memory Must be Defended’: Beyond the Politics of Mnemoni-cal
Security,” Security Dialogue, vol. 46, no. 03, pp. 221-237.
McSweeney, B 2009, Security, Identity and Interests. A Sociology of International Relations, Cambridge University Press.
Mitzen, J 2016. ‘Ontological Security in World Politics: State Identity and the Secu-rity
Dilemma,’ European Journal of International Relations, vol. 12, no. 03, pp. 341–370.
Nabers, D 2015, A Poststructuralist Discourse Theory of Global Politics, Palgrave Macmil-lan.
Neumann, I B 1999, ‘Conclusion: Self and Other after the Death of the Sovereign Subject,’ in I B Neumann (ed), Uses of the Other. “The East” in European Identity Formation, Manchester University Press, pp. 207-228.
_______ 1996a, ‘Self and Other in International Relations,” European Journal of International Relations, vol. 2, no. 02, pp. 139-174.
_______ 1996b, Russia and the Idea of Europe: A Study in Identity and International Relations, Routledge.
Peoples, C & Vaughan-Williams, N 2010, Critical Security Studies, Routledge.
Reinke de Buitrago, S (ed) 2012, Portraying the Other in International Relations: Cases of Othering, Their Dynamics and the Potential for Transformation, Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Reinke de Buitrago, S & Resende, E 2019, ‘The Politics of Otherness: Illustrating the Identity/Alterity Nexus and Othering in IR’ in J Edkins (ed), Routledge Handbook of Critical International Relations, Routledge, pp. 179-193.
Resende, E, Budrytė, D & Buhari-Gulmez, D (eds) 2018, Crisis and Change in Post-Cold War Global Politics: Ukraine in a Comparative Perspective, Palgrave Macmillan.
Resende, E, & Budryte, D (eds) 2014, Memory and Trauma in International Relations: Theo-ries, Cases and Debates, Routledge.
Rumelili, B (ed) 2015, Conflict Resolution and Ontological Security, Routledge.
Smith, S 2005, ‘The Contested Concept of Security’, in K Booth (ed), Critical Security Studies and World Politics, Lynne-Rienner, pp. 27-62.
Steele, B J 2008, Ontological Security in International Relations: Self-Identity and the IR State, Routledge.
______ 2005, ‘Ontological Security and the Power of Self-Identity: British Neutrality and the American Civil War,’ Review of International Studies, vol. 31, no. 03, pp. 519–540.
Strukov, V & Apryshchenko, V (eds) 2018, Memory and Securitization in Contemporary Europe, Palgrave Macmillan.
Subotić, J 2016, ‘Narrative, Ontological Security and Foreign Policy Change,’ Foreign Policy Analysis, vol. 12, no. 01, pp. 610-627.
Widmaier, W W, Blyth, M & Seabrooke, L 2007, ‘Exogenous Shocks or Endogenous Constructions? The Meanings of Wars and Crises,’ International Studies Quarterly, vol. 51, no. 04, pp. 747-759.
Wæver, O 1995, ‘Securitization and Desecuritization,’ in R Lipschutz (ed), On Security, Columbia University Press, pp. 46-87.
_______ 1993, ‘Societal security: The Concept,’ in O Waever et al. (eds), Identity, Migration, and the New Security Agenda in Europe, Pinter, pp. 17-40.
Zarakol, A 2016, ‘States and Ontological Security: A Historical Rethinking,’ Cooperation and Conflict, vol. 52, no. 01, pp. 48–68.
______ 2010, ‘Ontological (In)security and State Denial of Historical Crimes: Turkey and Japan,’ International Relations, vol. 24, no. 01, pp. 03–23.
Full Text: pdf
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.