The performance of global democracy : parody and/as the political

The article develops a critical analysis of the debate on global democracy. Departing from common post-structural IR critiques of global democracy as (merely) a metaphor of escape that entrenches many of the sovereign logics it claims to contest, we explore what it would mean to engage the discourse of global democracy as an ongoing performative practice. After briefly outlining the relative positions of liberal reformist and cosmopolitan democrats – we argue that more attention can/should be paid to the ontopolitical foundations of global democracy. Drawing from William Connolly and Judith Butler, it is argued that fundamental (democratic) limits of the discourse are overlooked/re-produced, and even in the more ambitious cosmopolitan positions. Ontopolitical closures in relation to a problematic global scale and the universal assumption of individual agency/rights highlight the necessity of democratising ‘actually existing’ discourses of global democracy. We explore these ideas via a discussion of the cultural governance of global trade and resistance to it, especially via the activities of a UK based anarchist group called The Space Hijackers. By deploying parody the Space Hijackers can contribute to the debate on global democracy by provoking reflection upon fundamental assumptions about globalisation and ethics in everyday situations. They therefore problematise and subvert the problematic subjectivity of the ‘global-individual’ in a manner that might (but does not necessarily) allow for the imagination of alternative possibilities. The importance of this argument is that it resists the tendency of poststructural scepticism with regard to ethical discourses of global democracy, while retaining what is so promising: a turn towards singularity and imagination. Parody does not solve all problems, what could? But it does offer a modality within which subjects can imagine and act creatively with regards to the everyday closures of global democrac

Between innocence and deconstruction: rethinking political solidarity

he third and final post in our short resilience and solidarity forum, this time from Chris Rossdale. Chris lectures in International Relations at Royal Holloway, University of London. His research focuses on anti-militarist social movements and radical political theory. He has also recently edited a special issue of Globalizations on radical political subjectivities, his own contribution exploring the relationship between Emma Goldman and Friedrich Nietzsche through the concept of dance. He can be reached by email thusly

Enclosing critique: the limits of ontological security

The concept of ontological security has received increased attention in the security studies literature over the past ten years. This article develops a critical perspective toward ontological security and its mobilization by IR scholars, arguing that substantive ethical and political resources are produced by resisting the terms of ontological security/insecurity. It argues that the aspiration to ontological security, to contiguous and stable narratives of selfhood, can (violently) obscure the ways in which such narratives are themselves implicated in power relations. Furthermore, it argues that attempts to order political life into an ontological/security episteme disciplines or marginalizes modes of subjectivity which resist the closure of ontological security-seeking strategies. The article engages queer figurations of subjectivity as mobilized by Judith Butler, Donna Haraway, and Jack Halberstam, as well as examples from anti-militarist social movements, to demonstrate traditions which refuse and resist the framework of ontological security. It does this both in order to highlight particular practices and strategies that are written out by an epistemology oriented around ontological security/insecurity, and to show how a resistance to such ordering can enliven political action in various ways

Anarchism, anti-militarism, and the politics of security

This thesis seeks to conceptualise an anarchist response to the politics of security. Understanding security as a discourse of conceptual and political mastery, and as therefore resistant to incorporation within a framework of emancipation, it argues that anarchism offers theoretical and practical resources through which creative insurrections in the political-metaphysical fabric of security might be made. The thesis is built around an ethnography of UK-based anti-militarist activism, interpreting a variety of practices, tactics and strategies through a conception of anarchism which emphasises prefigurative direct action and a ceaseless resistance to relations and discourses of domination and hegemony. Three central interventions in the logics of security are identified. The first involves the subversion of the hegemonic ontology of agency which can be identified across both traditional and critical understandings of security; those anti-militarists under examination do not appeal to „the state‟ to redress their grievances and insecurities, preferring instead to „directly‟ engage in practices of security. The second intervention emphasises those forms of anti-militarism which can be seen to subvert the security/insecurity binaries themselves, and to open spaces and possibilities beyond the totalising frameworks which constitute our contemporary politics of security. The third examines those moments and movements where, as they subvert these binaries, anti-militarists prefigure forms of subjectivity which displace those forms of rationality and relationality which underpin the politics of security (and militarism). Together these three interventions destabilise the politics of security in ways which offer powerful opportunities for rethinking and resisting contemporary forms of political domination and violence. This also functions as an argument about the politics of resistance, which is conceptualised here not as a programmatic, strategic or confrontational posture, but a tactical, prefigurative and anarchic exploration of becoming otherwise

An Account of ‘Life after Guantánamo’: a rehabilitation project for former Guantánamo detainees across continents

This paper describes a project established in 2009 by the human rights charity, Reprieve, to coordinate rehabilitation for men who have been released from long-term detention at the US military base of Guantánamo Bay.  The majority of the men referred to the project were deemed unable to return to their home country because of the risk they faced of torture or other persecution and were therefore resettled in a third country. This paper also refers to Tunisian former Guantánamo detainees with whom Reprieve worked, who had initially been resettled in a third country but then following the Jasmine Revolution and the fall of the Ben Ali regime, were able to return to their home country.  Reprieve then provided assistance to them and their families under the Life after Guantánamo in Tunisia project.  This paper briefly outlines the abuse and nature of psychological control at Guantánamo and, based on the first-hand experiences of the Project Coordinator and Caseworker, offers non-clinical observations of the apparent consequences of this control on the former detainees who were referred to the project. The Life after Guantánamo project facilitated social, medical, psychological, legal and financial assistance in partnership with local service providers and through liaison with host governments and intergovernmental organisations, such as the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).  The paper recounts the type of assistance provided, highlights some of the challenges faced and, based on learnings made over the project’s eight year duration, makes recommendations, for future work with former Guantánamo detainees and others who have been detained and subject to torture and inhuman and degrading treatment in the ‘War on Terror’

Violence risk assessment for females: the HCR-20

Violence in females has received little empirical attention, compared to males. However, contemporary society has seen an increase in female violence, as well as offences committed by females, generally. Therefore, gaining further insight female violence is important for understanding, measuring, preventing and rehabilitating females. This thesis includes chapters which apply a meta analytical approach to the existing research for the HCR-20