The Security Principle

Frédéric Gros

Description

The genealogy of the idea of security from ancient Greece to the war on terrorism
In The Security Principle, French philosopher Fr�d�ric Gros takes a historical approach to the concept of "security", looking at its evolution from the Stoics to the social network. With lucidity and rigour, Gros's approach is fourfold, looking at security as a mental state, as developed by the Greeks; as an objective situation and absence of all danger, as prevailed in the Middle Ages; as guaranteed by the nation state and its trio of judiciary, police and military; and finally "biosecurity", control, regulation and protection in the flux of contemporary society. In this deeply thought-provoking account, Gros's exploration of security shines a light both on its past meanings as well as its present uses, exposing the contemporary abuses of security and the pervasiveness of it in everyday life in the Global North.

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Philosophie politique
• Critical Theory
• Movements
• Political
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• PHILOSOPHY
• Philosophie et théologie
• History of ideas
• Politics

Informations

• Publié par: Verso
• Date de parution: 06 août 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781784787165
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Security Principle
The Security Principle
From Serenity to Regulation
Frédéric Gros
Translated by David Broder
This work was published with the help of the French Ministry of Culture – Centre national du livre
Ouvrage publié avec le concours du Ministère français chargé de la culture – Centre national du livre

This book is supported by the Institute français (Royaume-Uni) as part of the Burgess Programme
This English-language edition published by Verso 2019
Originally published in French as Le Principe sécurité
© Gallimard 2013
Translation © David Broder 2019
All rights reserved
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
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ISBN-13: 978-1-78478-715-8
ISBN-13: 978-1-78478-714-1 (HARDBACK)
ISBN-13: 978-1-78478-716-5 (UK EBK)
ISBN-13: 978-1-78478-717-2 (US EBK)
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Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY
Contents
Introduction
1 The Serenity of the Wise Man
2 The Seventh Day of History
3 The Guarantor-State
4 Biosecurity
Conclusion
Notes
Appendix
Index
Introduction
‘Security’ has today become a remarkable focus of discussion within the media and in politics. This term has invaded public debate – indeed, political leaders talk at great length about it. We complain about the increasing feeling of insecurity, we haughtily observe that security is the most fundamental freedom, we pull out opinion polls to show us that security is as much of a popular concern as unemployment or the environment, and we cast security as an indispensable condition for childhood development and fulfilment in adult life. In recent years, we have even seen the rise of new expressions such as ‘food security’, ‘energy security’ and ‘human security’. At the same time, the sector of the economy that revolves around all forms of security (from information technology to surveillance and home security) is rapidly expanding. When everything is in turmoil and fear is on the rise, those whose business it is to sell ‘security’ can line their pockets. But what actually is security? A feeling, a political programme, some material force, a smokescreen, a hope, a damnation, a pathological obsession, a commodity, a public service? We can begin by delving into a few of the existing definitions.
For the Littré dictionary, security means ‘peace of mind, however well or ill-founded, in a moment where there may be something to fear’; for the Trésor de la langue française , it is a ‘confident and calm state of mind’. Here security is not just a feeling but a balanced state of mind, a certain disposition of the soul when it is calm, tranquil and confident. In this first sense, security is what we would today call serenity. This meaning comes directly from Latin: what is securus is whatever is sine cura , or above concern, free of trouble, without worry. This term also has a long history in the French language: for Rousseau, security is the condition of pure souls like Julie in his New Heloise . Only those who have a tranquil conscience and a virtuous heart can enjoy a sense of security.
In this case, the emphasis is placed not on the absence of danger or the freedom from threats, but rather on the fact that such jeopardy is unable to trouble one’s peace of mind. Nothing can upset the sleep of the just and as long as one has a tranquil conscience, one ought not be afraid. Up till the end of the eighteenth century the dictionaries of the Académie française observed that this peace of mind was felt precisely ‘in a time and in a situation when there may indeed be something to fear’. This concept of security did not, therefore, rule out the possibility of threat. The important thing was that security depended on a wholly internal, subjective steadfastness rather than the reality of dangers actually being kept at bay. We find this same emphasis in the examples quoted from the 1762 edition of the Académie’s dictionary: ‘Amidst so many perils, you fear nothing, your security is remarkable’; ‘He slept among his enemies with incredible security’; ‘With great security of conscience’. In the Dictionnaire de l’Académie française (1935), there is a different meaning: security is the ‘absence of danger’. In the Trésor de la langue française , security is ‘an objective situation reliant on material, economic and political conditions that imply the absence of dangers to individuals or threats to goods, thus causing confidence’. And according to Larousse, security is ‘a situation in which someone or something is not exposed to any danger, any risk, and in particular the risk of physical aggression, accidents, theft or damage’. In these latter examples, things have been turned on their head: security designates not a state of mind but an objective situation. It indicates not some internal calm that even the tangible presence of danger is unable to disrupt but, rather, the absence of threats , a situation in which risks have objectively been removed and dangers ruled out. It is in this sense that we can say that an individual has been ‘secured’, finding themsleves in a situation where they are not in any way imperilled. To ‘secure’ an object is to place it somewhere beyond risk, where it cannot be carried off or damaged.
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Another definition has it that security is ‘an element of the material public order, characterized by the absence of dangers to an individual’s life, liberty or property rights’ ( Trésor de la langue française ). This third definition, which is both far-reaching and specific, integrates security into the state, understood as a centralized political unit – a public authority. When we speak of ‘public’ security, we are referring to the protection of goods and individuals against aggression and theft, but also the defence of institutions against subversion, rebellion and sedition. When we speak of ‘collective’ security, we are referring to the interplay of alliances between states, as well as other diplomatic treaties that seek to dissuade aggression by some third party. When we speak of ‘military’ security, we are referring to a combination of armed forces that can prevent the invasion of our territory. Here, the state appears as the guarantor of security: it guarantees the rights of the people, the preservation of their lives and assets, the territorial integrity of a country, the stability of the government and public order. In this example, security is the state.
Trésor de la langue française speaks of security as both concrete and abstract: ‘Security: Whatever allows the normal functioning of some activity, or for a process to play out in a normal way’. For example, to maintain ‘security’ stocks is to prepare to never run short and to be able to respond to any demand. Here, security designates a complement to some operation, allowing it to proceed without let or hindrance. More broadly, it refers to a set of measures designed to ensure the continuity of some process. This is the sense in which we can today talk of ‘information technology (IT) security’ but also ‘food security’ (ensuring a continual supply of food to a given population) or ‘energy security’ (building up reserves, diversifying supply sources, anticipating crises).
By taking a look at the most commonplace definitions of security, we can in the first instance identify four main dimensions: (1) security as a state of mind, the disposition of a given subject; (2) security as an objective situation characterized by an absence of danger and the disappearance of threat; (3) security as a guarantee of fundamental rights, underpinned by the state; and finally, (4) security as a control of supply chains. The concept of security is marked by each of these four dimensions. They determine its internal consistency and its points of tension.
What we are setting out to do here is to explore each of these four main dimensions by examining four select historical problematizations. We will study security as serenity, a state of mind, on the basis of ancient spiritual techniques and in particular those stemming from Greek and Roman philosophy. The great Stoic, Epicurean and Sceptic schools of wisdom presented themselves as veritable ‘endeavours in security’ in the sense that they promised their disciples a steadfastness of the soul and an unshakable mental calm.
Second comes security as the absence of danger and the lack of threat. We will describe this dimension by way of an examination of millenarian beliefs. Christianity constructed the utopia of a thousand-year period that would bring perfect happiness to a reunited humanity. With the disappearance of illness and suffering, the end of exertion and labour, the erasure of all forms of servitude, the absolute defeat of vice and evil, and the absence of any aggression between living beings, this age of regenerated humanity would be bathed in immanent bliss. The Church soon enough condemned this belief as heresy, yet it was nonetheless the source of a great number of political, social and religious movements throughout the Middle Ages. For these movements, fascinated by the hope of a promised age of definitive security, the task was to precipitate history and bring forth the advent of this Golden Age.
Security defined as a set of state guarantees is a construct of the modern era: the system of security, qua the institution and maintenance of a public and international order, gradually established itself through the foundational texts of political thought (from Hobbes to Locke and Rousseau), through the geopolitical concepts of Westphal