Workshop: Security, Development and the Political in the Twenty-First Century: Beyond Liberal Governance?

This half-day workshop is organised in the context of Michael C. Williams and Rita Abrahamsen’s joint visiting fellowship (January-February 2017) at the School of Politics and International Relations, QMUL. The workshop will explore and interrogate the intensification of security practices associated with changing conceptions of the relationship between state, markets and civil society over the past few decades. The event will feature three presentations followed by Q&A.

Professor Williams (University of Ottawa) and Professor Abrahamsen (University of Ottawa) will start the session with their new work on contemporary in the Development sector and its relation to security practices. More specifically drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of social fields, they explore how the ramifications of the contemporary merger of Development and Security go beyond the question of whether Development has become yet another aspect of neoliberal global governance. Through case studies in Africa, they map and theorise structural transformations in Development as a field of practice, altering the politics, agents, and strategies of development with profound implications for the future. Professor Stefan Elbe (University of Sussex) will follow with a discussion on how some of these developmental trends and security challenges have played out within the changing field of global health. Professor Jutta Weldes (University of Bristol) will conclude with a paper on changing conceptions of security and practices of statehood.

Organized by Jean-François Drolet and Jef Huysmans for the School of Politics and International Relations Queen Mary University of London.

Photo credit J. Ott