The UK’s approach to security and the ‘war on terror’ has been critiqued for privileging force, surveillance and militarism, but no substantive, alternative approach has emerged. Some NGOs and parliamentarians have challenged this security orthodoxy. Yet these attempts lack academic rigour and are often developed in response to a specific government policy. If this is a failure of politics, then it is equally a failure of the academy. The project of critical security studies has succeeded in deconstructing and critiquing the security architectures of the liberal state. Yet, it has often failed to engage – conceptually, disciplinarily, and practically – with questions of security policy. This roundtable brings together different subfields beyond ‘security studies’ narrowly defined, in order to discuss alternative visions of security. What areas are often overlooked in academic engagement with security? How can we, as scholars, better understand the practical processes underlying security policy-making? Can we – or should we – intervene in them?
Chair:
- Nick Ritchie (University of York)
Speakers:
- Ruth Blakeley (University of Sheffield)
- Harmonie Toros (University of Kent)
- Philippe M. Frowd (University of Ottawa)
- Nisha Kapoor (University of Warwick)
- Paul Rogers (University of Bradford)
Registration will close two hours before the event start time.