Subjects of Security: Foreign Policy, War on Terror and the Constitution of Social Order

Global Studies Seminar Series 2012

This paper offers a theoretical framework for understanding how foreign policy affects its own domestic sphere. Inverting the traditional analysis of foreign relations, it will be argued that there is a significant impact from external foreign policy on 'domestic' individual subjectivity and social order. As such, this framework demonstrates how the subjectivity of citizens are shaped by notions of security stemming from the pervasion of norms and stereotypes of foreign policy that rebound onto domestic politics. Furthermore, notions of security derived from foreign policy inform how liberty is perceived and what it means to be free, in so doing assuming a vital part of the constitution of social order. The presentation will conclude by arguing that the war on terror heralded a distinct shift on the operation of foreign policy, one that continues to inform the construction of new security policies such as critical infrastructure protection and cyber security.

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