Conflict, Peace, and Ontological Security

Ejdus, Filip

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-77954-2_126

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Yet, in all of these works, memory is introduced as an asset to identity rather than as a process. As such, memory, within the existing OS literature, so far features only as a form of 'ontological self-help' 33 to keep the national identity intact. Notably, however, in our definition of 'narratives as concrete forms of collective memory', memory cannot be fixed as a static story about the 'self in history', but rather is a 'constitutive narrative' that, through remembering, literally re-members (=constitutes) a group and as such also its identity.…”

Section: Collective Memory As the Practice Of Ontological Security: T...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ontological security as temporal security? The role of ‘significant historical others’ in world politics

Bachleitner

2021

International Relations

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This article explores the link between collective memory and state behaviour in international relations. In that regard, it develops a new concept entitled ‘temporal security’. Building on the existing ontological security literature, it extends a temporal understanding to its underlying identity concept. Countries are now assumed to be temporal-security seekers vis-a-vis a ‘significant historical other’ from their past. Decision makers thus enter into a self-reflective conversation with their country’s ‘collective memory’ when choosing courses of action. Contrasted with existing physical-security and ontological security explanations for state behaviour, the explanatory potential of the temporal-security approach is in a second step illustrated by the empirical case of West Germany and Austria, two former Nazi perpetrator states, and their respective assignments of support during conflict in the Middle East. Through a comparative, qualitative discourse analysis of historical documents during the Six-Day War of 1967 and the Yom Kippur War and oil crisis of 1973, the empirical study finds that West Germany and Austria adopted different courses of action in their international politics, because they looked to Nazi Germany as their significant historical other.

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Section: Collective Memory As the Practice Of Ontological Security: T...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ontological security as temporal security? The role of ‘significant historical others’ in world politics

Bachleitner

2021

International Relations

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“…This has urged anxiety about the country’s actual belonging status and its foundation (‘anxiety of backwardness’ (Subotic, 2018)). ‘Peace anxiety’ (Ejdus, 2020, p. 215) with the disappearance of raison d’être after the ‘return’ to Europe is certainly another characteristic of this time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The EU is an excellent example, with a distinct ‘civilian identity’ embodied in certain cross-member relationship (Mitzen, 2006). NATO serves as another example (Ejdus, 2020, pp. 216–217).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discoursive Region Building in Latvia: The Case for a Contemporary Identity Search

Djatkovica

2023

Alternatives: Global, Local, Political

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Three decades into the independence restoration of Latvia and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country has integrated well into the Western community. It is a member of the EU and NATO, the Schengen area, the eurozone, and, since recently, OECD. Turning Westwards, Latvia attempted to abolish the post-Soviet and enter the European spatiality above all to secure the country’s physical existence. But not less importantly, to redefine the collective understanding of the Self. The principal argument I make in this article is that countries with the Soviet past may seek their contemporary identity in self-attribution to the desired political regions. That is, embed their new identities in discursive regionalism. The example of Latvia showcases the argument. However, ambiguous discourses of the Latvian regional belonging persist in the national imaginary. The range varies from the post-Soviet and its milder alternative – Eastern European – to the Northern European and Baltic. The mixed regional affiliations result from inconsistencies in the region-building approach exercised by the political elite of Latvia. They stem from the country’s ontological security search in NATO and the EU accession aftermath and amid the war in Ukraine within the newly acquired regional identities contrasted with the vestiges of the Soviet past.

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Conflict, Peace, and Ontological Security

Cited by 2 publications

References 58 publications

Ontological security as temporal security? The role of ‘significant historical others’ in world politics

Ontological security as temporal security? The role of ‘significant historical others’ in world politics

Discoursive Region Building in Latvia: The Case for a Contemporary Identity Search

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