Security

What does it mean to be secure in today’s world? The Security research group focuses on the changing landscape of security actors (state and non-state, the European Union, NATO, United Nations) and practices, aiming to recast and develop the concept of security through new approaches and methodologies.

The Security research group promotes original analyses of:

• Threats (political, military, societal)
• Objects of security (individuals, communities, states, economic and ecological systems and infrastructures)
• Security technologies (e.g. biometrics, explosive detection)
• Methodologies (scenario-planning, risk assessment, preparedness, threat enactment).

Research themes

• Societal security
• Crisis management and resilience
• Conflict prevention and peace-building
• Security politics of humanitarianism and migration
• Security foresighting and trend analysis
• Human security
• Cyber security
• Financial security
• Terrorism and radicalization
• Securitization
• Gender and security
• Media and security

Discipline and methodology

The Security research group combines and invites researchers from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, such as political science, international relations/critical security studies, law, sociology, war and peace studies, philosophy, cultural studies, and criminology. Methodologically the group focuses on qualitative research such as interviews, document analyses and case studies. The group takes a critical approach to security, drawing on governmentality studies and genealogy, conceptual and cultural history, political philosophy, media studies, and social theory, and endorsing self-reflective and non- Euro-centric perspectives.

We are interested in overarching research questions, such as:

• What role do security rationalities, technologies and practices play in the governance of societies?
• How can we prevent and deal with conflict or crises?
• How are threats framed and communicated?
• What are the epistemic strategies employed in the governance of the future and how are they changing?
• What are ethical challenges of contemporary security governance?
• How are security problems perceived and approached in different regions of the world?