Me and my Monkey: What's Hiding in the Security State (original) (raw)
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We investigate how effective counterterrorism influences (1) confidence in government efforts to deal with terrorism and (2) anxiety about future attacks. Research on " heuristic judgments " implies information about counterterrorism undercuts people's sense of security from terrorism. Across three experiments, however, we find that people who are exposed to information about effective counterterrorism express more confidence in the ability of governments to either protect citizens from future attacks or prevent future violence than those who did not receive these treatments. People who receive information about effective counterterrorism also show greater willingness to approach sources of danger than those who do not get this information. Finally, exposure to counterterrorism information did not increase people's anxiety about attacks. On the contrary, in one study information about effective counterterrorism erased the effects of exposure to information about terrorism. Communications about successful counterterrorism do not necessarily undermine government efforts to reassure people about their security.
Neither liberty nor safety: the impact of fear on individuals, institutions, and societies, part I
Psychotherapy and Politics International, 2005
This is the first in a series of four papers looking at the ways that minds and bodies of individuals are affected by severe stress and using that to develop a deeper understanding of what happens to stressed individuals who come together to form stressed organizations, and the impact of this stress on organizational leaders. The series will also explore the parallel process that occurs when traumatized individuals and stressed organizations come together to form stressed societies. Part I focuses on the basic human stress response, also known as ‘fight-flight-freeze’, as a starting point for understanding the impact of acute trauma and repetitive stress on individuals, organizations, and nations. Copyright © 2004 Whurr Publishers Ltd.
Security vs. Liberty: On Emotions and Cognition
The metaphor of balancing and the use of balancing tests have been invoked so regularly since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, to explain the need for a trade-off between liberty and security that they have become “ambient feature[s] of our political environment.” In their book, Terror in the Balance, Eric Posner and Adrian Vermeule argue similarly that there exists a security-liberty frontier along which tradeoffs between security and liberty take place.This paper examines critically the tradeoff thesis and challenges its basic assumptions through the prism of cognitive theory of decision-making. It argues that the assumption of interpersonal comparability between security and liberty cannot be maintained as the two are neither comparable, in general, nor are they interpersonally comparable in the sense that Posner and Vermeule suggest. Furthermore, I argue that in circumstances of extreme violent crises acts of balancing between security and liberty - of optimizing the...
The Only Thing We have to Fear: Post 9/11 Institutionalization of In-Security
Uluslararası İlişkiler, Volume 8, No 32 (Winter 2012), p. 49-65., 2012
During the last decade, billions of dollars have been spent to increase security measures in the United States. New institutions, including a department for homeland security, have been established, new security tools have been developed, and surveillance of Americans has been increased. However, despite the creation of ‘safety zones,’ neither the level of the Americans’ feeling of security from further terrorist attacks, nor their confidence in the ability of US governments to prevent attacks, has seen an increase. According to Beck, who introduced the concepts of ‘world risk society’ and ‘reflexive modernity’, terrorism is one of the products of reflexive modernity which cannot be addressed by traditional security measures. Within this framework, this paper analyzes the case of the Americans since 9/11 attacks. In this vein, it is argued that the gap which has arisen as a result of addressing non-territory and non-state-based terrorism through state-based security measures has caused a continuation of a high level of insecurity, fear, and anxiety among the Americans. Public opinion surveys conducted in the United States since the 9/11 attacks by various institutions are used to analyze Americans’ thoughts about security and the terror risk in the United States.
Fear and Security: A Vulnerability‐led Policy Response
2008
Abstract The aim of this article is to explore the rise of vulnerability-led policy-making. It attempts to engage with the apparent puzzle of why the official rhetoric of promoting resilience frequently gives way to an orientation towards an emphasis on vulnerability. It contends that the current conceptualization of resilience assumes that vulnerability is the defining condition of social life. One likely consequence of this approach is the reinforcement of the passive side of public life.
MISUNDERSTANDING NATIONAL SECURITY: THE COST OF INSECURITY
This qualitative research study on the components of the United States national security framework questions Federal Government policymaker’s fundamental understanding of national security to provide for the common defense, explains how defense is a separate construct from security, interrogates the essence of security, examines the elements of security, and argues information sharing is the center of gravity to establish security. The researcher employed the theoretical framework of phenomenology and grounded theory strategy against a “What-If? Analysis” to assess the guidance provided in the National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy, and the National Response Framework’s to determine if the existing national security framework provides for the common defense through the synchronization of information between various defense assets. The findings presented in this study indicate establishing security is impossible with the current national security framework. A proposal to modify the existing Federal information management structure to enhance national defense, in addition to the National Security Strategy, is provided.
Risk, dread and the crisis of counter-terrorism security
Rosa dos Ventos, 2013
The present research explores not only the diverse definitions of terrorism but also the social conditions for the appearance of counter-terrorism. 9/11 was undoubtedly the epicenter of a new way of interpreting the risksociety. Combining empirical examples with a rich conceptual framework, our thesis is that while complete, no-gaps security may prove elusive, counterterrorism security can (and should) make people feel good about moving through public places. Last but not least, the 'representational' practices of security have become a central concern for counterterrorism thinkers in the post-9/11 world. Indeed, these authors have described these representations of security in only slightly different ways. These security methods and styles share much in common. Given the right situation, it might be argued that these authors are all describing something similar, if not the same thing. These methods are designed to mitigate fear and foster feelings of safety, certainty and security in inexpensive ways. We will conclude with two post-9/11 stories that illustrate this argument. The first story is drawn from an interview conducted with an Australian school teacher who worked for a year in a small town in Virginia. During her one year teaching assignment in 2006 and 2007 she was struck by the paradox of the everyday lives of the children she taught in this town. She marveled at their wonderful play equipment, sporting equipment and their pristine suburbs. She also marveled at how this play equipment and sporting facilities were never used.