An introduction to the special issue: Ontological securities in world politics

Published date01 March 2017
DOI10.1177/0010836716653162
Date01 March 2017
Subject MatterArticles
Cooperation and Conflict
2017, Vol. 52(1) 3 –11
© The Author(s) 2016
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0010836716653162
journals.sagepub.com/home/cac
An introduction to the special
issue: Ontological securities in
world politics
Catarina Kinnvall and Jennifer Mitzen
Abstract
The research community of ontological security scholars is vibrant and wide-ranging, defined
by a conceptual core and by the themes through which scholars register their disagreements.
In this special issue we have collected some of the work that has been produced or inspired
by discussions and meetings during the last few years. The goal is to showcase some of the
breadth of insights and possibilities on the topic of ontological securities and insecurities in world
politics. Thus far, International Relations scholarship on ontological securities in world politics
has been varied, focusing on different referent objects (individual, society, group, state), different
political outcomes (cooperation, conflict, violence; stability or change) and different methods
(quantitative, qualitative, discursive). While on the face of it such differences would seem to pose
a challenge to the goal of developing a coherent research agenda, we have found the range of
work and diversity among ontological security scholars to be exceptionally productive, leading
already to cross-fertilisation and the deepening of our own approaches, while also inspiring new
collaborations. The articles in this special issue discuss the subjective and foundational dimensions
of ontological security in philosophical, existential and empirical terms and approach the ‘level-of-
analysis’ problem from new perspectives.
Keywords
Emotions, ontological security, state and society, world politics
A few years ago, as we began a conversation about ontological security, we were struck
by the number of scholars we could think of in International Relations (IR) who were
finding the concept to be a productive lens for thinking about the relationship between
security and identity, and between identity and important outcomes in world politics.
This special issue collects seven articles that have grown out of those discussions. In this
introduction we briefly define and thematise the concept of ontological security and
highlight how the various contributions to this issue pick up on and reflect those themes.
Corresponding author:
Catarina Kinnvall, Department of Political Science, Lund University, 221 00 Lund, Sweden.
Email: Catarina.Kinnvall@svet.lu.se
653162CAC0010.1177/0010836716653162Cooperation and ConflictKinnvall and Mitzen
research-article2016
Article

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT