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National Security Risks? Uncertainty, Austerity and Other Logics of Risk in the UK government’s National Security Strategy

Hammerstad, Anne, Boas, Ingrid (2014) National Security Risks? Uncertainty, Austerity and Other Logics of Risk in the UK government’s National Security Strategy. Cooperation and Conflict, 50 (4). pp. 475-491. ISSN 0010-8367. E-ISSN 1460-3691. (doi:10.1177/0010836714558637) (KAR id:42811)

Abstract

Risk scholars within Security studies have argued that the concept of security has gone through a fundamental transformation away from a threat-based conceptualisation of defence, urgency and exceptionality to one of preparedness, precautions and prevention of future risks, some of which are calculable, others of which are not. This article explores whether and how the concept of security is changing due to this ‘rise of risk’, through a hermeneutically grounded conceptual and discourse analysis of the United Kingdom government’s national security strategy (NSS) from 1998 to 2011. We ask how risk-security language is employed in the NSS; what factors motivate such discursive shifts; and what, if any, consequences of these shifts can be discerned in UK national security practices. Our aim is twofold: to better understand shifts in the security understandings and policies of UK authorities; and to contribute to the conceptual debate on the significance of the rise of risk as a component of the concept of security.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1177/0010836714558637
Projects: The Securitization of Forced Migration
Additional information: Published online before print
Uncontrolled keywords: Security studies, risk, discourse analysis, UK national security policy
Subjects: J Political Science > JZ International relations
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Politics and International Relations
Funders: Economic and Social Research Council (https://ror.org/03n0ht308)
Depositing User: A. Hammerstad
Date Deposited: 03 Sep 2014 05:04 UTC
Last Modified: 09 Dec 2022 05:39 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/42811 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Hammerstad, Anne.

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