Ulrik Pram Gad

Concepts of politics in securitization studies

The article argues that there are a number of concepts of politics in play in the current debates on securitization theory and that greater awareness regarding these conceptual differences helps cl...The article argues that there are a number of concepts of politics in play in the current debates on securitization theory and that greater awareness regarding these conceptual differences helps clarify not only theoretical differences but also the possibilities for new theoretical development and reflection. The article identifies three conversations on politics: first, a conversation on how politics concerns action and intentionality; second, a conversation on the modern organization of politics, spheres and sectors; and, third, a conversation on the relationship between politics, ethics and science. Where the first and third conversations refer to politics as an act, in the second conversation politics is inherently tied to the institutional or spatial structures of government – the state, the public, the political field, spheres, sectors or function.

Greenland: A post-Danish sovereign nation state in the making

The relationship between Greenland and the European Union (EU) can best be understood by exploring the development from Danish colonialism to a future independent Greenlandic state. In 1985, Greenland became the first territory ever to leave the European Economic Community (EEC) when it opted for status as an ‘overseas country or territory’. The manner in which Greenland had to follow Denmark into the EEC in 1973 – whereby Greenlanders saw control over their fisheries move from distant Copenhagen to even-more-distant Brussels – was pivotal for the Greenlandic demands for home rule that succeeded in 1979 and made the 1985 withdrawal possible. On 25 November 2008, a majority of the people of Greenland voted in favour of enhanced home rule – ‘self-government’ – still within formal Danish sovereignty. Denmark and Greenland alike are preparing for a future envisioned as involving climate change, intensive raw material extraction, new transportation corridors and new claims to sovereignty over the Arctic. Greenland uses this imagined future as a way of enhancing its subjectivity, not the least when dealing with the EU. This article analyses how the Greenlandic self-understanding as being on the way to sovereignty – and the tensions involved – structures the triangular relationship between the EU, Greenland and Denmark. The article concludes that the visions of sovereign equality might, on the one hand, create greater expectations than Greenland will immediately be able to live up to – at home and in the EU. On the other hand, the representation of the Greenland–EU relationship as one of sovereign equality – present and future – might just be able to provoke the resources necessary to make the dream come true.

Introduction: Postimperial sovereignty games in the Nordic region:

Benevolence, homogeneity and peace has never been the full story of the Nordic region. Building on a critical review of myths of ‘Norden’ in international relations theory and beyond (international political economy, security studies, regional and European integration theory and postcolonialism), we develop the framework of postimperial sovereignty games for understanding contemporary Nordic foreign policy and regional dynamics. We shift focus from the ‘large’ Nordic countries to the remnants of Nordic empires: Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Åland. On the one hand, these polities struggle to enhance their independence – Iceland even after becoming a sovereign state; the other polities via self-government arrangements. On the other hand, the former colonies develop close relationships to a supranational European Union in their effort to achieve independent subjectivity. Contrasting the developments towards increased independence and European integration, the article demonstrates the importance of imperial legacies. Firstly, it challenges Norden as a model security community. Secondly, it questions the image of a harmonious Nordic welfare model based on equality and consensus in light of the experiences of Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Åland. Finally, it suggests that no theory of European integration is complete without taking imperial and postimperial processes into account.

Concepts of dialogue as counterterrorism: narrating the self-reform of the Muslim Other

Since 9/11, the terrorist is often awarded the position of the radical Other: the personified existential threat to the West. The counterterrorism strategy presented by the Danish government describes itself as covering a ‘broad spectrum’ of efforts. It includes an ‘active foreign policy’ in relation to the Muslim world and an ‘active integration policy’ in relation to Muslim migrants. Both inside and outside the nation-state, efforts range from ‘hard power’ security strategies of elimination and control involving military, police and intelligence operations, to ‘soft power’ strategies of information, partnerships and dialogue. This article analyses Danish counterterrorism policy narratives to identify the concepts of dialogue implied and the positions awarded to less-than-radical Muslim Others. This article finds that Muslims might – especially after the Danish Muhammad cartoon affair – in counterterrorism dialogue find a position for talking back, even if it is still a position circumscribed by control and securitisation.

Peace, welfare, culture. Muslims as a security problem in Danish integration discourse

This article analyzes how Muslims are implied to constitute threats in the official Danish discourse of the centre-right government since 2001. It does so to provide a more nuanced picture of Danish debates on integration than the usual presentation of two discourses – culturalism and multiculturalism – pitted in opposition. By analytically focusing on “security narratives”, the article details how initial narratives of Muslims as threats to culture, welfare and societal peace merged and morphed to award surprising new roles to the state and multiculturalism. The re-evaluation of cultural difference implied in a recent strategy to counter radicalization, however, does not amount to a de-securitization of Muslims – rather it installs a need for surveillance and control of the Muslim difference.

Review Essay: Dusting for Fingerprints: The Aarhus Approach to Islamism

This article reviews the Aarhus approach to the study of Islamism as presented in a series of articles by Mehdi Mozaffari and Tina Magaard. The core contribution of the Aarhus approach—the argument that islamism constitutes yet another form of totalitarianism—is found to be forceful and thought-provoking. The academic utility of this approach is difficult to evaluate, however, since empirical evidence in the form of structured comparisons is not provided. This is partly due to the lack of a definition of totalitarianism to facilitate comparisons with Nazism, Fascism and Stalinism, and partly due to a lack of interest in comparisons along other relevant dimensions, including manifestations of radicalized/securitized religion drawing on the vocabulary of religious traditions other than Islam. It is argued that the definition of Islamism as totalitarianism is upheld by methodologically privileging texts over practice and definitional claims over empirical evidence. As such, the approach reflects an anthropological and sociological deficit excluding analyses of practices from textual reading and a hermeneutical deficit excluding various existing interpretations. Most importantly, these criteria for demarcating Islamism have important consequences for security political strategies for uncoupling the relations between Islamism and violence.

From flip-flopping stereotypes to desecuritizing hybridity: Muslims as threats and security providers in Danish broadcast drama series

Muslims are making their way into filmed entertainment in Hollywood and Europe. Critical reception has uniformly acclaimed the quantitative progress, however, disagreeing on the quality of the representation. One position laments how the increased representation of diversity is structured by negative stereotypes; another is encouraged by how the very same stereotypes are ironically taken to extremes. Bearing in mind the intimate relation between identity and security, however, the stereotypical representation of difference is never innocent. The overall narratives of Danish public service broadcast series such as The Killing, Government and The Protectors rely on stereotypical security policy narratives identifying Muslims as threats. Even when stereotypes are creatively articulated to reverse the negative valuation, Muslim roles are distinctly charged or ‘securitized’ when compared to non-Muslim roles. However, placing the ‘Muslim’ character centre stage allows a separate level of representation of a distinct role in the way stories articulate stereotypes, facilitating hybrid identities.

Preventing radicalisation through dialogue? Self-securitising narratives versus reflexive conflict dynamics

Critical scholarship has warned against basing the prevention of terrorism on a concept of ‘radicalisation’ which implies that violence is inherent to Islam, but various approaches disagree on how to base the critique. This article argues for reading counter-radicalisation policies as narratives in order to identify their potential in terms of conflict escalation. Analysis of the official Danish counter-radicalisation action plan, reactions to it, and reactions to the reactions finds that criticism from the targets of the policy and engaged scholars based on attention to conflict dynamics has had some success in modifying policy from securitising to governing risk. Nevertheless, the potential for re-securitisation remains.

Politics of Sustainability in the Arctic: A Research Agenda

The concept of sustainability has become central in arctic politics. However, there is little agreement on what ‘sustainable’ means. For different actors (governments, indigenous people, NGOs, etc.) the concept implies different sets of opportunities and precautions. Sustainability, therefore, is a much more fundamental idea to be further elaborated depending on contexts than a definable term with a specific meaning. This paper suggests a set of theoretical questions, which can provide the first steps toward a research agenda on the politics of sustainability. The approach aims to map and analyze the role of sustainability in political and economic strategies in the Arctic. Sustainability has become a fundamental concept that orders the relationship between the environment (nature) and development (economy), however, in the process rearticulating other concepts such as identity (society). Hence, we discuss, first, how, when meeting the Arctic, sustainability changes its meaning and application from the global ecosphere to a regional environment, and, second, how sustainability is again conceptually transformed when meeting Greenlandic ambitions for postcoloniality. This discussion leads us to outline an agenda for how to study the way in which sustainability works as a political concept.

Hvem taler? Hvem lytter?

Den danske regerings antiterrorstrategi straekker sig fra militaere midler til dialog; et centralt begreb i regeringens sakaldte “Arabiske Initiativ” til fremme af partnerskaber om “fremskridt og reform” i Mellemosten. Men hvordan bevarer man kontrollen over dialogens retning? Og hvorfor er det sa vigtigt?