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Ontological security, circulations of affect, and the Arab Spring

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Abstract

Ontological security research in International Relations (IR) generally argues that agents pursue both physical security and a secure sense of self. However, insofar as this work focuses on agents’ stabilising routines, this article asks what may be gained by shifting the focus to the wider settings within which this occurs. What analytical purchase may be gained by re-focusing the study of ontological security not strictly on subjects, but on agents’ broader affective environments? Drawing together insights from philosophy, cultural studies, and geography, the article contends that ‘circulations of affect’ can reinforce agents’ sense of security within cognitively unstable environments that are typically viewed as inducing insecurity. In this sense, tracing transpersonal circulations of affect positions ontological security within the broader social processes out of which security-seeking subjects are formed. The empirical purchase of these concepts is illustrated through an analysis of articulations of security and subjectivity in the Arab Spring uprisings.

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Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Jennifer Mitzen and Catarina Kinnvall for their assistance, feedback, and for enlightening conversations on ontological security over the past few years. Thanks also to panel audiences at the 2014, 2015, and 2016 International Studies Association annual meetings, where various earlier iterations of these ideas were presented.

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  1. School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow, Adam Smith Building, 40 Bute Gardens, Glasgow, G12 8RT, UK

    Ty Solomon

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Solomon, T. Ontological security, circulations of affect, and the Arab Spring. J Int Relat Dev 21, 934–958 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41268-017-0089-x

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