Overview
- Re-evaluates existing debates in critical security studies in the context of digital communications
- Proposes a historical and methodological re-assessment of the field
- Explains how social media impacts critical security studies
Part of the book series: New Security Challenges (NSECH)
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book demonstrates that the disciplinary boundaries present within international relations approaches to security studies are redundant when examining social media, and inter- and multi-disciplinary analysis is key. A key result of the analysis undertaken is that when examining the social media sphere security scholars need to “expect the unexpected”. This is because social media enables users to subvert, contest and create security narratives with symbols and idioms of their choice which can take into account “traditional” security themes, but also unexpected and under explored themes such as narratives from the local context of the users’ towns and cities, and the symbolism of football clubs. The book also explores the complex topography of social media when considering constructions of security. The highly dynamic topography of social media is neither elite dominated and hierarchical as the Copenhagen School conceptualises security speak. However, neither is it completely flat and egalitarian as suggested by the vernacular security studies’ non-elite approach. Rather, social media’s topography is shifting and dynamic, with individuals gaining influence in security debates in unpredictable ways. In examining social media this book engages with the emancipatory burden of critical security studies. This book argues that it remains unfulfilled on social media and rather presents a “thin” notion of discursive emancipation where social media does provide the ability for previously excluded voices to participate in security debates, even if this does not result in their direct emancipation from power hierarchies and structures offline.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Joseph Downing is Senior Lecturer in International Relations and Politics, Aston University, UK, and Visiting Fellow in the European Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. He was previously Marie-Curie Fellow at the Laboratoire méditerranéen de sociologie, CNRS, Université Aix-Marseille Marseille, and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He has published and consulted widely on politics and security.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Critical Security Studies in the Digital Age
Book Subtitle: Social Media and Security
Authors: Joseph Downing
Series Title: New Security Challenges
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20734-1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-20733-4Published: 24 January 2023
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-20736-5Published: 24 January 2024
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-20734-1Published: 23 January 2023
Series ISSN: 2731-0329
Series E-ISSN: 2731-0337
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XI, 265
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: International Security Studies, Military and Defence Studies, Terrorism and Political Violence, Social Media, Political Communication