In this paper, I want to explore and assess a number of interconnected trends and their implications for our understanding of security and justice in contemporary societies. In so doing, I will draw most evidently on developments in the UK but also delineate and evoke broader trans-European comparisons, where these seem appropriate. My argument will be structured around the elaboration and consideration of two inter-related contemporary trends which are evident across European societies, albeit sometimes expressed differently, reflecting divergent political and cultural contexts. The two trends are: first, the rise of ‘public safety’ as an holistic domain of policy, notably at the level of the city/region; and, second, the evolving conceptualisation of ‘security’ as promiscuous. Particular attention is given to security’s evolving quality and social character as well as to its temporal and distributive dimensions. The purpose is to highlight the aggrandising and future oriented ramifications of securitising practices. In the concluding section, I turn briefly to consider the implications of these dynamics for our understanding of the tense relation between security, liberty and justice. I explore the implications of the preceding discussions for how we might conceive of a conception of ‘sustainable security’. In so doing, I elaborate a conceptualisation of security which is normatively rooted in notions of social justice without being capacious or pervasive. One that attends to the short-term security needs of living with risk and threat without prompting social injustices and inequalities or compromising future security by generating new sources of insecurities.
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)