University of Groningen
Origins of Differentiation in Critical Security Schools
Sezal, Mustafa
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Sezal, M. (2019). Origins of Differentiation in Critical Security Schools: A philosophic-genealogical search for emancipatory roots. University of Groningen.
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Origins of Differentiation in Critical
Security Schools
A Philosophic-Genealogical Search for Emancipatory Roots
Phd thesis
to obtain the degree of PhD at the University of Groningen
on the authority of the Rector Magnificus prof. E. Sterken
and in accordance with the decision by the College of Deans. This thesis will be defended in public on Thursday 21 February 2019 at 14.30 hours
by
Mustafa Ali Sezal
born on 18 July 1987 in Çankaya, Turkey
Supervisor
Prof. J.H. de Wilde
Assessment Committee
Prof. A.J. Zwitter
Prof. I.G.B.M. Duijvesteijn Prof. W.M. Wagner
Table of Contents
List of Abbreviations 5
List of Figures and Tables 6
Acknowledgements 7
Prologue 9
1. Introduction 11
1.1. Questions and the Enquiry 13 1.2. The Late Arrival of Critical Theory in International Relations and
Security Studies 15
1.3. A Note on the Methods and the Structure 18
1.4. Outline 22
2. Origins of Critical Theory 24 2.1. Enlightenment Thought: Siècle des Lumières vs. Aufklärung 25 2.2. Forefathers: Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Marx 31 2.3. Formulating and Philosophising Critical Social Theory: The Frankfurt
School 44
2.4. Conclusion 51
3. New Critical Thought: Critical Traditions in the Second Half of the 20th
Century 54
3.1. Post-structuralists: Foucault and Derrida 55 3.2. Critical Sociology: Bourdieu 62
3.3. Conclusion 68
4. New Horizons in International Relations and Security Studies 70 4.1. Traditional and Critical International Relations Theory 70 4.2. Critical Security Studies 73 4.2.1. Aberystwyth School 76
4.2.2. Copenhagen School 85
4.2.3. Paris School 95
4.3. Conclusion 101
5. Conceptual Analysis: Roots and Differentiations 105 5.1. This May Be True in Theory, but Does It Hold in Practice? 106 5.1.1. (Global) War on Terror(ism) 108 5.1.2. GWoT Told by the Mainstream IR Scholarship 112
5.1.3. Critical Security Schools and the GWoT 116 5.1.3.1. Aberystwyth Theorises 117 5.1.3.2. Copenhagen Theorises 125 5.1.3.3. Paris Theorises 131 5.2. Philosophical Links and the GWoT 137
5.3. Conclusion 141
6. Conclusion and Pathways for Future Investigations 143
6.1. The Enlightenment, Critical Thought, and the Three Schools 144 6.2. Emancipatory Potentials and Future Research 149
Epilogue 151
Bibliography 152
English Summary 167
Nederlandse Samenvatting 167
5
List of Abbreviations
AS Aberystwyth School BCE Before Common Era
CASE Critical Approaches to Security in Europe CCTV Closed-Circuit Television
CE Common Era
CHC Cosmopolitan Harm Conventions CIRT Critical International Relations Theory COPRI Copenhagen Peace Research Instıtute CoW Correlates of War
CS Copenhagen School CSS Critical Security Studies CT Critical Theory
CTS Critical Terrorism Studies EU European Union
FARC Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia FS Frankfurt School
GWoT Global War on Terror
IPE International Political Economy IPS International Political Sociology IR International Relations IRA Irish Republican Army ISIS Islamic State of Iraq and Syria KLA Kosovo Liberation Army
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation PKK Kurdistan Workers’ Party
PRIO Peace Research Institute Oslo PS Paris School
STS Science and Technology Studies TSS Traditional Security Studies UK United Kingdom
UN United Nations
UNSC United Nation Security Council US United States of America
List of Figures
Figure 1: Positioning emancipation in critical security studies 21 Figure 2: Complex relationships between critical security schools
and philosophical traditions 146
List of Tables
Table 1: Forefathers of Critical Theory 53 Table 2: Philosophical traditions, central ideas and IR scholarship 75 Table 3: The three schools of critical security studies
7
Acknowledgements
This dissertation has been a product of many meetings and many partings. It was an adventurous journey with ups and downs, now finally completed. But, of course, the journey never ends.
There has been so many inspirations some of which I might have forgotten. Yet it is with gladness I can say that without Burak Bilgehan Ozpek this dissertation could not have been materialised. Both as a friend and a mentor he made this possible. Our discussions, conversations, and drinks we had now and then have been all crucial for me to finish this dissertation. There are no words that can express my gratitude. The least I could do was to start this Acknowledgements section with him. Possibly most important of all, I should mention that it was him who introduced me to my current supervisor Jaap de Wilde and vouched for me. Thank you very much for everything and I will never forget the things you have done for me!
Therefore, the second biggest thanks goes to Professor de Wilde. Within such a short time his comments and suggestions changed the tone of the dissertation. Of course, I have known him through his academic works, but having him as my supervisor was the greatest honour. I once again thank him for his critical inputs and believing in me. I really enjoyed our meetings and I hope that he did as well.
Hakan Ovunc Ongur also helped me immensely especially when dealing with Critical Theory, and encouraged me a lot during the process. It would not be an exaggeration when I say that he is one the most knowledgeable critical scholars in Turkey.
Then surely I would like to thank Bayram Sinkaya, my previous supervisor, for allowing me to work with him. It is by working with him I was able to have a small free space to breathe in the oppressive climate of the Turkish academia. Perhaps that little freedom made me see the emancipatory potentials even in the dead of night.
Christian Lekon also read my first draft as a favour and in a very short time and pointed out many important aspects that I have overlooked. Academic and non-academic conversations with him were high points in the small free space I had. Also he was the only person in my previous institution that recognised the Starfleet emblem on my t-shirts. Live long and prosper!
I would also like to thank my close friends from Turkey, who are also academics, Bilge Duruturk and Ozge Taylan. They never turned me down when I wanted to brainstorm with them some of the ideas I wanted to put in the dissertation. Also the IRSS colloquia, the special seminars and of course the institution itself, the University of Groningen, made me remember what the academia meant. And thanks to these I was able to speak and discuss with Rita Abrahamsen, Jef Huysmans, and Xavier Guillaume about parts of my dissertation and shaped those accordingly. So I thank them for bearing with me. Additionally, I want to thank my fellow PhDs who welcomed me very warmly and accepted me as a friend in a very short time.
Professor J. R. R. Tolkien deserves a special place here. When I was overwhelmed with the work and stressed I went back to Middle Earth. Gandalf, Frodo, Aragorn, and everyone was where I left them years ago. And they have not lost any of their sincerity or wisdom and gave me hope once again and made me realise that not all those who wander are lost.
Last but not least, I want to thank my brother, mother, and father. They have always believed in me. They saw in me what I could not. And with their belief and support I was able to come into grips with the path I chose for my journey. I am here now, thanks to you.
Groningen August 2018
9
Prologue
“I saved Earth from hell. Next, I’ll help her towards utopia,” says Adrian Veidt to his fellow watchmen. Then he asks Dr Manhattan whether he has done right. “It all worked out in the end,” says Veidt. “In the end?” replies Manhattan “Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends.”1
In 1947, members of the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists created a symbolic clock representing humanity’s proximity to a nuclear
holocaust. The closeness of such a disaster was symbolised by minutes to midnight. Since then the Board has evaluated world affairs and changed the clock accordingly. At the height of the Cold War, following the Able Archer crisis in 1983 as the conditions escalated significantly, it was three minutes to twelve.2
With this in the background, a graphic novel called Watchmen was published which was set in alternative 1980s. As a part of its main plot, it plays with the idea of an extra-terrestrial attack on planet Earth which, according to novel’s antagonist Adrian Veidt, also known as Ozymandias, would unite humanity and therefore end all conflict. A perpetual peace based on prudence against a common enemy of humankind. The excerpt above is from the novel’s conclusion and it is one of the very first images and ideas that come to my mind when thinking about international politics. It is a very naïve solution to many complex relations that are manifested in the world’s social, political, and economic condition, however, unity against a common adversary has been a part of national histories for centuries if not millennia. Yet, this has also been one of the causes of war. Before the space aliens, there were human aliens and they were and are the ‘others’.
1 Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, Watchmen (New York: Warner Books, 1987), 12/27.
2Able Archer 83 refers to a near escalation of the Cold War in Europe. Able Archer was a NATO exercise based
on a nuclear war scenario which for the first time also included Heads of Governments (Thatcher, Kohl, and Reagan). It came so close to reality that the Soviets interpreted it as the preparations of an attack, so they prepared to answer it. The crisis ended when Able Archer stopped at 11 November 1983.
It was around the same time I bought Watchmen that I also got my copy of the newly published Security Studies: An Introduction, a textbook edited by Paul D. Williams, from the university bookstore in Aberystwyth while I was a masters student. Little did I know that these two books would affect my future academic endeavours deeply.
