Security provision in and beyond Europe: transformed narratives and roles in times of interregnum

Current geopolitics are shifting, with experts debating whether it should be understood as a multiplex world order, times of interregnum or a rupture for middle powers. Security provision - understood here as the collective act of supplying security for oneself and others, typically at a regional or global level - is undergoing times of transformation. The escalation of wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Iran have profoundly disrupted and reconfigured regional security arrangements both within and beyond Europe. This special section seeks to evidence what role conceptualisations, narratives and perceptions are at play in a period of geopolitical interregnum. It makes four main contributions. First, the notion of ‘permanent emergency’ is a structuring condition for European security provision with a continuous adaptation in which the interregnum is not a transitional passage to a new stable order but a durable feature of the international environment. This explains why narratives on security provision have become more fluid and can co-exist in spite of normative divergences. Second socialisation around security provision shows that informalisation and social power remain key elements. Third, the agency of third countries as recipients of narratives is key in their success.