Methods in Critical Security Studies

Course Description:

​Critical security studies can be understood as a scholarly approach that is attentive to the workings of power and exclusion inherent in social phenomena. Though objects of research can vary considerably, a four basic principles shape the field of critical analysis:

1. Social and political life are interwoven without any one unifying principle or logic;
2. Agency--the capacity to act--is not reserved to individual human beings, but rather is everywhere;
3. Causality is emergent. In other words, critical analysis does not identify what necessarily happens, but rather what the conditions of possibility of something happening are;
4. Research, writing and public engagement are inherently political.

​​Lectures and discussions will emphasize reapplication of classical scientific research questions for the field of critical security studies: sufficient proof, critical position, and coherency of argument, reshaped and reapplied to these four principles.​

Schedule:

​Day 1 / 8 December: Introduction to critical security research methods and design

10.15-12.00 Lecture (Burgess & Salter). Readings:

• Salter, ‘Research design: Introduction’
• Guillaume, ‘Criticality’
• Squire, ‘Attending to mess’
• c.a.s.e. collective, ‘Critical approaches to security in Europe’

13.15-15.00 Seminar

Day 2 / 9 December: Discourse and discursive approaches

10.15-12.00 Lecture (Thierry Balzacq). Readings:

• Balzacq, ‘Enquiries into methods’
• Anaïs, ‘Objects of security’
• Lobo-Guerrero, ‘Archives’
• Neal, ‘Legislative practices’
• Fairclough, 'Critical and descriptive goals in discourse analysis' 

13.15-15.00 Seminar 

Day 3 / 10 December: Interpretive approach to security and the role of the 'observer' 

10.15-12.00 (Xymena Kurowska). Readings:

• Wilkinson. ‘On Not Just Finding'
• Ciuta,‘Security and the problem of context'
• Kurowska and Tallis, ‘Chaismatic crossings’

13.15-15.00 Seminar

Day 4 / 11 December: The new materiality

10.15-12.00 (Claudia Aradau). Readings:

• Aradau, ‘Infrastructure’
• Voelkner, ‘Tracing human security assemblages’
• Barad, ‘Posthumanist performativity: toward an understanding of how matter  comes to matter’
• Walters, 'Drone strikes, dingpolitik and beyond: Furthering the debate on materiality and​ security' 

13.15-15.00 Seminar 

Day 5 / 12 December: Gender and the corporeal turn

10.15-12.00 (Maria Stern). Readings:

• Wiebe, ‘Affective terrain: approaching the field in Aamjiwnaang’
• Shinko, ‘Theorizing the body in IR’
• Crane-Seeber, ‘Learning by feeling’
• Shinko, ‘Ethics after liberalism: Why (autonomous) bodies matter’.

13.15-15.00 Seminar

Deadlines:

​Application deadline: 31 October 2014

Requirements:

One week prior to the course lectures, each student must submit a brief research proposal, related to a current or future project (approximately 500 words). The research proposal should relate to the readings and contain 3 different research paths for achieving its goals. ​ In order to achieve​ 5 ECTS, an essay of 3-5000 words must be handed in by Monday 19 January 2015. The essay question should be proposed by 19 December for approval by the organizers. The participants are invited to relate the essay to the methods chapter of their dissertation. ​

Admission:

The deadline for applications is 31 October 2014​. Please fill in the application form. PhD candidates should specify the topic of their project under 'Research interests'. PhD candidates get priority, but others with graduate studies from a relevant discipline may also apply. Current members of the Resarch School on Peace and Conflict simply register. 

There is no participation fee, but the cost of transportation and accommodation must be covered by the participants. Five stipends to cover basic accommodation at neighbouring Anker Hotel are available for PhD students who do not have funding for such course participation through their universities. ​

Course Literature:

​The course will build primarily on Research Methods in Critical Security Studies: An Introduction. (Mark B. Salter and Can E. Mutlu, London: Routledge), supplemented by other readings. Lectures will be given by external scholars known for their work in the field of critical security studies. The 5-day course will combine morning lectures with afternoon workshopping of relevant themes, articles, and student papers.

Bibliography

​​​​​​​Anaïs, Seantal (2013) ‘Objects of Security/objects of research: analyzing non-lethal weapons’ in Mark B. Salter and Can E. Mutlu (eds) Research Methods in Critical Security Studies, NY: Routledge: 195-198.

Aradau, Claudia (2013) ‘Infrastructure’ in Mark B. Salter and Can E. Mutlu (eds) Research Methods in Critical Security Studies, NY: Routledge: 181-185.

Balzacq, Thierry (2011) ‘Enquiries into methods: a new framework for securitization analysis’ in Thierry Balzacq (ed) Securitization Theory: How security problems emerge and dissolve, NY: Routledge: 31-53.

Barad, Karen (2003) ‘Posthumanist performativity: toward an understanding of how matter comes to matter’ Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 28(3): 801-831.

c.a.s.e. collective (2006) ‘Critical Approaches to Security In Europe: A Networked Manifesto’, Security Dialogue 37(4): 443-487.

Ciuta, F. (2009) ‘Security and the problem of context: a hermeneutical critique of securitisation theory’, Review of International Studies 35(2): 301-326.​

Crane-Seeber, Jesse Paul (2013) ‘Learning by feeling’ in Mark B. Salter and Can E. Mutlu (eds) Research Methods in Critical Security Studies, NY: Routledge: 72-75.

Fairclough, Norman (2010) 'Critical and descriptive goals in discourse analysis' in Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language. London: Routledge.  ​

Guillaume, Xavier (2013) ‘Criticality’ in Mark B. Salter and Can E. Mutlu (eds) Research Methods in Critical Security Studies, NY: Routledge: 29-32.

Kurowska, Xymena and Benjamin C. Tallis (2013) ‘Chiasmatic crossings: a reflexive revisit of a research encounter in European security’ Security Dialogue 44(1): 73-89.​

Lobo-Guerrero, Luis (2013) ‘Archives’ in Mark B. Salter and Can E. Mutlu (eds) Research Methods in Critical Security Studies, NY: Routledge: 121-124.

Neal, Andrew W. (2013) ‘Legislative Practices’ in Mark B. Salter and Can E. Mutlu (eds) Research Methods in Critical Security Studies, NY: Routledge: 125-128.

Salter, Mark B. (2013) ‘Research Design: Introduction’ in Mark B. Salter and Can E. Mutlu (eds) Research Methods in Critical Security Studies, NY: Routledge:15-24.

Shinko, Rosemary E. (2010) ‘Ethics after Liberalism: Why (autonomous) bodies matter’ 38(3): 723-745.

Shinko, Rosemary E. (2013) ‘Theorizing the body in IR’ in Mark B. Salter and Can E. Mutlu (eds) Research Methods in Critical Security Studies, NY: Routledge: 162-164

Squire, Vicki (2013) ‘Attuning to mess’ in Mark B. Salter and Can E. Mutlu (eds) Research Methods in Critical Security Studies, NY: Routledge: 37-41.

Voelkner, Nadine (2013) ‘Tracing human security assemblages’ in Mark B. Salter and Can E. Mutlu (eds) Research Methods in Critical Security Studies, NY: Routledge: 203-206.

Walters, ​William (2014) 'Drone strikes, dingpolitik and beyond: Furthering the debate on materiality and​ security' Security Dialogue 45(2): 101-118.

Wiebe, Sarah Marie (2013) ‘Affective terrain: approaching the field in Aamjiwnaang’ in Mark B. Salter and Can E. Mutlu (eds) Research Methods in Critical Security Studies, NY: Routledge: 158-161.

Wilkinson, C. (2014) 'On Not Just Finding What You (Thought You) Were Looking For'. Reflections on Fieldwork Data and Theory, in D. Yanow and P. Schwartz-Shea (eds) Interpretation and Method, Armonk, NY and London: M.E. Sharpe.​

Further reading:

Weizman, ​Eyal (2012)​ The Least of All Possible Evils: Humanitarian Violence from Arendt to Gaza. ​​​NY: Verso.​​