Top

Published in:

2023 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

2. Conceptualising Social Media and Critical Security Studies in the Digital Age

Author : Joseph Downing

Published in: Critical Security Studies in the Digital Age

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

This chapter sets out with an ambitious goal—to situate a discussion of social media and critical security studies in its broader conceptual and theoretical context. A key take-home is that the critical turn in security studies has a lot of gain from an increased focus on social media. The deeply hierarchical Copenhagen school’s notion of elite actors being those that can, and do, securitise situations (Buzan and Wæver in Review of International Studies 23:241–250, 1997) needs significantly revisiting if we are to take account of both the greater range of voices taking part in security debates on social media, and indeed how, if and when security elites use social media to deploy this kind of security speak. The Welsh school, with its focus on emancipation (Wyn Jones 1999), did not consider the possibilities for both progress and impediment made possible for “discursive emancipation” by social media platforms. The Paris school has insights as it argues for the broadening of the field and the destruction of disciplinary which specifically argues for the incorporation of criminology and sociology into the security studies lexicon. The vernacular security studies (Bubandt in Security Dialogue 36:275–296, 2005; Jarvis in International Studies Review 21:107–126, 2019; Jarvis and Lister in International Relations 27:158–179, 2012) agenda aims to take account for the ever multiplying range of security speak “from below” that their exciting theoretical work entails. The same can be said for the daunting possibilities that critical terrorism studies (Jackson in European consortium for political research) opens up for understanding the constructions of terrorism on social media. However, examining the literature on critical security studies only takes this book so far, and it is also required to examine the plethora of excellent work on a range of technology and security intersections from other disciplines, such as information systems and criminology. While the relationship of technology and security goes back to antiquity, the growth of hacking and cybercrime (Alexandrou in Cybercrime and information technology: The computer network infrastructure and computer security, cybersecurity laws, Internet of things (IoT), and mobile devices. CRC Press, 2021) are also important areas that have received, and no doubt deserve to receive, only ever more and more attention from a range of security scholars because of their enormous range of applications.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

previous chapter Introduction to Social Media and Critical Security Studies in the Digital Age

next chapter Social Media, Digital Methods and Critical Security Studies

Adler, E. (2012). Constructivism in international relations: Sources, contributions and debates. In The handbook of international relations. Sage

Alexandrou, A. (2021). Cybercrime and information technology: The computer network infrastructure and computer security, cybersecurity laws, Internet of things (IoT), and mobile devices. CRC Press.CrossRef

Allmer, T. (2015). Critical theory and social media: Between emancipation and commodification. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315750491

Aly, A., Macdonald, S., Jarvis, L., & Chen, T. (2016). Grasping at thin air. In Violent extremism online: New perspectives on terrorism and the internet. Taylor and Francis. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781317431886/chapters/10.4324/9781315692029-9

Amarasingam, A., Scrivens, R., & Ballsun-Stanton, B. (2021). Mobilizing extremism online: Comparing Australian and Canadian right-wing extremist groups on Facebook. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19434472.2021.1903064?casa_token=lIb6JBkKhpcAAAAA%3AUif7zIG94I4n8_nZFi0TAsELX7MHbcP4voEpSSEuX_xqORPN9KegjIa_GgS2f1Vdipu9UWCV3CqtTw

Aradau, C. (2004). Security and the democratic scene: Desecuritization and emancipation. Journal of International Relations and Development, 7(4), 26.CrossRef

Awan, I. (2017). Cyber-extremism: Isis and the power of social media. Society, 54(2), 138–149. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-017-0114-0

Balzacq, T. (2011). Securitization theory: How security problems emerge and dissolve. https://www.routledge.com/Securitization-Theory-How-Security-Problems-Emerge-and-Dissolve/Balzacq/p/book/9780415556286

Basaran, T., Bigo, D., Emmanuel-Pierre, G., & Walker, R. B. J. (2016). International political sociology: Transversal lines. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/International-Political-Sociology-Transversal-Lines/Basaran-Bigo-Guittet-Walker/p/book/9781138910713

Behnke, A. (2006). No way out: Desecuritization, emancipation and the eternal return of the political—A reply to Aradau. Journal of International Relations and Development, 9(1), 62–69. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jird.1800070CrossRef

Berger, P. L., & Luckman, T. (1966). The social construction of reality (Later Reprint ed.). Anchor Books.

Bernot, A., & Childs, A. (2022). Social media in times of war. https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/social-media-times-war

Bhaskar, P. R. (2008). A realist theory of science. Verso.

Bigo, D. (2008). Security studies: An introduction. In International political sociology in Williams P. Routledge.

Bigo, D., Dabène, O., Duclos, L., Gascon, A., Guilbert, F., Hermant, D., Laïdi, Z., Leveau, R., & Roy, O. (1990). La prolongation des conflits: Approche comparative des systèmes de guerre. Cultures & Conflits, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.4000/conflits.147

Bigo, D. (2011). Pierre Bourdieu and international relations: Power of practices, practices of power. International Political Sociology, 5(3), 225–258. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-5687.2011.00132.xCrossRef

Bigo, D., & McCluskey, E. (2018) What is a PARIS approach to (in)securitization? Political anthropological research for international sociology. In The Oxford handbook of international security. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198777854.013.9

Browning, C. S., & McDonald, M. (2013). The future of critical security studies: Ethics and the politics of security. European Journal of International Relations, 19(2), 235–255. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066111419538CrossRef

Bubandt, N. (2005). Vernacular security: The politics of feeling safe in global, national and local worlds. Security Dialogue, 36(3), 275–296. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010605057015CrossRef

Burnett, J., & Whyte, D. (2005). Embedded expertise and the new terrorism. Journal for Crime, Conflict and the Media, 1, 1–18.

Buzan, B., & Wæver, O. (1997). Slippery? Contradictory? Sociologically untenable? The Copenhagen school replies. Review of International Studies, 23(2), 241–250.CrossRef

Buzan, B., Waever, O., & de Wilde, J. (1997). Security: A new framework for analysis (UK ed.). Lynne Rienner Publishers.

Cahill, A. J. (2000). Foucault, rape, and the construction of the feminine body. Hypatia, 15(1), 43–63. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2000.tb01079.xCrossRef

Clarke, C. P., & Serena, C. C. (2017, May 30). What happens after ISIS goes underground. https://www.rand.org/blog/2017/05/what-happens-after-isis-goes-underground.html

Conway, M., Scrivens, R., & Macnair, L. (2019). Right-wing extremists’ persistent online presence: History and contemporary trends. International Centre for Counter-Terrorism. https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep19623

Croft, S., & Vaughan-Williams, N. (2017). Fit for purpose? Fitting ontological security studies ‘into’ the discipline of international relations: Towards a vernacular turn. Cooperation and Conflict, 52(1), 12–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010836716653159CrossRef

Dencik, L., & Leistert, O. (2015). Critical perspectives on social media and protest: Between control and emancipation. Rowman & Littlefield.

Downing, J. (2020). Memeing and speaking vernacular security on social media: YouTube and Twitter resistance to an ISIS Islamist terror threat to Marseille, France. Journal of Global Security Studies. https://doi.org/10.1093/jogss/ogz081CrossRef

Downing, J., & Dron, R. (2020, November). Theorising the ‘security influencer’: Speaking security, terror and Muslims on social media during the Manchester bombings. New Media & Society, 1461444820971786. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820971786

Downing, J., Gerwens, S., & Dron, R. (2022). Tweeting terrorism: Vernacular conceptions of Muslims and terror in the wake of the Manchester bombing on Twitter. Critical Studies on Terrorism, 15(2), 239–266. https://doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2021.2013450CrossRef

Dupont, M. (2022). ‘Doomscrolling,’ or the never-ending emotional roller coaster of social media. Le Monde. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/pixels/article/2022/04/21/doomscrolling-or-the-never-ending-emotional-roller-coaster-of-social-media_5981126_13.html

Elder-Vass, D. (2013). The reality of social construction (Reprint). Cambridge University Press.

Ershad, A. (2022). Was this photo of Chechen Leader Kadyrov praying in a petrol station taken in Ukraine? The Observers - France 24. https://observers.france24.com/en/europe/20220401-was-this-photo-of-chechen-leader-kadyrov-praying-in-a-petrol-station-taken-in-ukraine

Floyd, R. (2006). When Foucault met security studies: A critique of the ‘Paris school’ of security studies. In Paper. University of Cork, Ireland.

Floyd, R. (2007). Towards a consequentialist evaluation of security: Bringing together the Copenhagen and the Welsh schools of security studies. Review of International Studies, 33(2), 327–350.CrossRef

Foltz, K. E., Simpson, W. R., and Institute for Defense Analyses. (2020). Enterprise level security 2: Advanced techniques for information technology in an uncertain world. CRC Press.

Gaikwad, M., Ahirrao, S., Phansalkar, S., & Kotecha, K. (2021). Online extremism detection: A systematic literature review with emphasis on datasets, classification techniques, validation methods, and tools. IEEE Access, 9, 48364–48404. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3068313CrossRef

Gorski, P. S. (2013). ‘What is critical realism? And why should you care?’ Contemporary Sociology, 42(5), 658–670. https://doi.org/10.1177/0094306113499533CrossRef

Gunning, J. (2007). Babies and bathwaters: Reflecting on the pitfalls of critical terrorism studies. European Political Science, 6(3), 236–243 [Online].

Hansen, L. (2011). Theorizing the image for security studies: Visual securitization and the Muhammad Cartoon crisis*. European Journal of International Relations, 17(1), 51–74. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066110388593CrossRef

Hansen, L. (2020). Are ‘core’ feminist critiques of securitization theory racist? A reply to Alison Howell and Melanie Richter-Montpetit. Security Dialogue, 51(4), 378–385. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010620907198CrossRef

Herbst, J. (2015). States and power in Africa. Princeton University Press. https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691164137/states-and-power-in-africa

Hobsbawm, E. J., Ranger, T. O. (1984). The invention of tradition. Cambridge University Press.

Holland, J. (2011, July). ‘When you think of the Taliban, think of the Nazis’: Teaching Americans ‘9/11’ in NBC’s the west wing. Millennium. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305829811408680

Hopf, T. (1998). The promise of constructivism in international relations theory. International Security, 23(1), 171–200. https://doi.org/10.1162/isec.23.1.171CrossRef

Howell, A., & Richter-Montpetit, M. (2020). Is securitization theory racist? Civilizationism, methodological whiteness, and antiblack thought in the Copenhagen school. Security Dialogue. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010619862921

Huysmans, J. (1998). The question of the limit: Desecuritisation and the aesthetics of horror in political realism. Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 27(3), 569–589. https://doi.org/10.1177/03058298980270031301

Huysmans, J. (2011). What’s in an act? On security speech acts and little security nothings. Security Dialogue, 42(4–5), 371–383. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010611418713CrossRef

Hynek, N., & Chandler, D. (2013). No emancipatory alternative, no critical security studies. Critical Studies on Security, 1(1), 46–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/21624887.2013.790202CrossRef

Jackson, R. (2007). The core commitments of critical terrorism studies. In European consortium for political research. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/32031958_The_Core_Commitments_of_Critical_Terrorism_Studies

Jackson, R. et al. (2007). Introduction: The case for a critical terrorism studies. Paper of the American political science association.

Jarvis, L. (2009, February). The spaces and faces of critical terrorism studies. Security Dialogue, 40(1), 5–27 (23 pages).

Jarvis, L. (2019). Toward a vernacular security studies: Origins, interlocutors, contributions, and challenges. International Studies Review, 21(1), 107–126. https://doi.org/10.1093/isr/viy017

Jarvis, L., & Lister, M. (2012). Vernacular securities and their study: A qualitative analysis and research agenda. International Relations, 27(2), 158–179. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047117812460880CrossRef

Jones, R. W., & Jones, R. L. W. (1999). Security, strategy, and critical theory. Lynne Rienner Publishers.

Juris, J. S. (2012). Reflections on #occupy everywhere: Social media, public space, and emerging logics of aggregation. American Ethnologist, 39(2), 259–279. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1425.2012.01362.xCrossRef

Kang, D. C. (2003). Hierarchy, balancing, and empirical puzzles in Asian international relations. International Security, 28(3). https://direct.mit.edu/isec/article-abstract/28/3/165/11788/Hierarchy-Balancing-and-Empirical-Puzzles-in-Asian?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Kant, Immanuel. (1795). Perpetual Peace. https://www.amazon.com/Perpetual-Peace-Immanuel-Kant/dp/159986861X

Keohane, R., & Jr, J. N. (1977). Power & interdependence (4th ed.). Pearson.

Kilner, J. (2022). Chechen troops in Ukraine mocked for focusing on making TikTok videos over fighting. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/05/21/chechen-troops-ukraine-mocked-focusing-making-tiktok-videos/

Leckie, G. J., & Buschman, J. E. (2008). Information technology in librarianship: New critical approaches: New critical approaches. ABC-CLIO.

Malmgren, E. (2017). Don’t feed the trolls. Dissent Magazine. https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/dont-feed-the-trolls-alt-right-culture-4chan

McDonald, M. (2008). Securitization and the construction of security. European Journal of International Relations, 14(4), 563–587. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066108097553CrossRef

Mcsweeney, B. (1996). Identity and security: Buzan and the Copenhagen school*. Review of International Studies, 22(1), 81–93. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210500118467CrossRef

Means, A. J. (2021). Foucault, biopolitics, and the critique of state reason. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 54(12), 1968–1969 [Online].

Mearsheimer, J. J. (2014, September/October). Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s Fault, 12.

Morgenthau, H. J. (1948). Politics among nations: The struggle for power and peace. Knopf.

Nussbaum, E. (Ed.). (2017, January 23). How jokes won the election. The New Yorker.

Parker, C. (2022). Uber-style technology helped Ukraine to destroy Russian battalion | News | The Times. The Times. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/uk-assisted-uber-style-technology-helped-ukraine-to-destroy-russian-battalion-5pxnh6m9p

Persily, N., & Tucker, J. A. (2020). Introduction. In Social media and democracy, the state of the field and prospects for reform (pp. 1–9). Cambridge University Press.

Prothero, M. (2019). ISIS supporters secretly staged a mass migration from messaging app Telegram to a little-known Russian platform after the London bridge attack. Insider. https://www.insider.com/isis-sympathisers-telegram-tamtam-london-bridge-2019-12

Reuter, C. (2019). Information technology for peace and security: IT applications and infrastructures in conflicts, crises, war, and peace. Springer.CrossRef

Reuter, C., Aldehoff, L., Riebe, T., & Kaufhold, M.-A. (2019). IT in peace, conflict and security research. In Information technology for peace and security: IT applications and infrastructures in conflicts, crises, war and peace. Springer.

Rhett Miller, J. (2022). Facebook removes ‘Freedom Convoy’ page of truckers against vax mandates. New York Post [online]. Available from: https://nypost.com/2022/02/04/facebook-removes-page-of-truckers-against-vax-mandates/ (Accessed 1 July 2022).

Roe, P. (2004). Securitization and minority rights: Conditions of desecuritization. Security Dialogue, 35(3), 279–294. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010604047527CrossRef

Roe, P. (2012). Is Securitization a ‘negative’ concept? Revisiting the normative debate over normal versus extraordinary politics. Security Dialogue, 43(3), 249–266. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010612443723CrossRef

Rudner, M. (2017). ‘Electronic Jihad’: The internet as Al Qaeda’s catalyst for global terror. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 40(1), 10–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2016.1157403CrossRef

Sagemen, M. (2014). The stagnation in terrorism research. Terrorism and Political Violence, 26, 565–580.

Séraphin, A., Divina, F.-M., & Ghayda, H. (2017). Youth and violent extremism on social media: Mapping the research. UNESCO Publishing.

Singer, P., & Brooking, E. (2018). The future of war will be ‘liked.’ Foreign Policy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/10/02/future-of-war-memes/

Smith, J. (2016). Pepe the frog meme is now on the ADL’s hate symbol database. Feels bad, man. Mic. https://www.mic.com/articles/155311/pepe-the-frog-meme-racist-adl-hate-symbol

Sorman. (2020, January 9). Le talent n’excuse plus les crimes. France-Amérique. https://france-amerique.com/le-talent-n-excuse-plus-les-crimes/

Stanley, L., & Jackson, R. (2016). Introduction: Everyday narratives in world politics. Politics, 36(3), 223–235. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263395716653423CrossRef

Stritzel, H. (2007). Towards a theory of securitization: Copenhagen and beyond. European Journal of International Relations, 13(3), 357–383. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066107080128CrossRef

Suciu, P. (2022). Is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the first social media war? Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/2022/03/01/is-russias-invasion-of-ukraine-the-first-social-media-war/

Timberg, C., & Harwell, D. (2022). Social media fuels new type of ‘fog of war’ in Ukraine conflict. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/02/24/ukraine-russia-war-twitter-social-media/

Tufekci, Z. (2012). Social media and the decision to participate in political protest: Observations from Tahrir Square. Journal of Communication, 62(2). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01629.x

Vaughan-Williams, N., & Stevens, D. (2016). Vernacular theories of everyday (in)security: The disruptive potential of non-elite knowledge. Security Dialogue, 47(1), 40–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010615604101CrossRef

Waltz, K. N. (1979). Theory of international politics (Reissue ed.). Waveland Pr Inc.

Wendling, A. (2009). Karl Marx on technology and alienation. Springer.CrossRef

Wolfsfeld, G., Segev, E., & Sheafer, T. (2013). Social media and the Arab Spring: Politics comes first. The International Journal of Press/politics, 18(2), 115–137. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161212471716CrossRef

Wyn Jones, R. (1995). ‘Message in a bottle’? Theory and praxis in critical security studies. Contemporary Security Policy. https://doi.org/10.1080/13523269508404119

Wyn Jones, R. (1999). Security, strategy and critical theory. Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.

Title: Conceptualising Social Media and Critical Security Studies in the Digital Age
Author: Joseph Downing
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Book: Critical Security Studies in the Digital Age
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-20733-4

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-031-20734-1

Copyright Year: 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20734-1_2