![[PDF]](/pb-assets/Icons/adobe-pdf-icon-1498649896243.png){kind=icon}
Abstract
This article proposes that in addition to physical security, states also seek ontological security, or security of the self. Ontological security is achieved by routinizing relationships with significant others, and actors therefore become attached to those relationships. Like its physical counterpart, the ontological security motive is a constant. But states may adhere to routines rigidly or reflexively, and variation in attachment style has implications for security-seeking. This article conceptualizes the individual-level need for ontological security, scales it up to states, and applies the ontological security-seeking assumption to the security dilemma. Realists argue that states want to escape security dilemmas but uncertainty prevents them. Ontological security-seeking suggests that states may not want to escape dilemmatic conflict. Because even dangerous routines provide ontological security, rational security-seekers could become attached to conflict. Ontological security-seeking sheds new light on seemingly irrational conflict, and suggests lines of research into the stability of other outcomes in world politics.
|
Adler, Emanuel
(2005) Communitarian International Relations.
New York: Routledge
. Google Scholar | |
|
Adler
,
Emanuel
and
Michael Barnett
(eds) (1998) Security Communities.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
| Aggestam, Lisbeth (2004) ‘A European Foreign Policy? Role
Conceptions and the Politics of Identity in Britain, France, and Germany’.
PhD Thesis, Stockholm University. Google Scholar | |
|
Arfi, Badredine
(1998)
‘Ethnic Fear: The Social Construction of Insecurity’
, Security Studies 8(1):
151–203
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Arndt, J.
,
J.J.B. Allen
and
J. Greenberg
(2001)
‘Traces of Terror: Subliminal Death Primes and Facial
Electromyographic Indices of Affect’
, Motivation and Emotion 25:
253–277
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Bacal, Howard A.
and
Kenneth M. Newman
(1990) Theories of Object Relations: Bridges to Self
Psychology.
New York: Columbia University Press
. Google Scholar | |
|
Ball-Rokeach
,
Sandra J.
(1973)
‘From Pervasive Ambiguity to Definition of the Situation’
, Sociometry 36:
378–389
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Barnett, Michael
(1999)
‘Culture, Strategy and Foreign Policy Change: Israel's
Road to Oslo’
, European Journal of International Relations 5:
5–36
. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | |
|
Bar-Tal
,
Daniel
(2001)
‘Why Does Fear Override Hope in Societies Engulfed by Intractable
Conflict, as it Does in the Israeli Society?’
, Political Psychology 22:
601–627
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Baumeister, Roy F.
and
Mark R. Leary
(1995)
‘The Need to Belong: Desire for Interpersonal Attachments as a
Fundamental Human Motivation’
, Psychological Bulletin 117(3):
497–529
. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Brewer, Marilynn
(1999)
‘The Psychology of Prejudice: In-Group Love or Out-Group Hate?’
, Journal of Social Issues 55(3):
429–444
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Brooks, Stephen G.
(1997)
‘Dueling Realisms’
, International Organization 51:
445–477
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Brubaker, Rogers
and
Frederick Cooper
(2000)
‘Beyond Identity’
, Theory and Society 29:
1–47
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Butler, Judith
(1997) The Psychic Life of Power.
Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press
. Google Scholar | |
|
Butterfield, Herbert
(1952) History and Human Relations.
New York: Macmillan
. Google Scholar | |
|
Buzan, Barry
(1991) People States and Fear (2nd edn).
Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner
. Google Scholar | |
|
Campbell, David
(1998) Writing Security: United States Foreign Policy and the
Politics of Identity (revised edn).
Manchester: Manchester University Press
. Google Scholar | |
|
Christensen, Thomas
(2002)
‘The Contemporary Security Dilemma: Deterring a Taiwan Conflict’
, The Washington Quarterly 25(4):
7–21
. Google Scholar | |
|
Cinnirella, Marco
(1998)
‘Exploring Temporal Aspects of Social Identity’
, European Journal of Social Psychology 28:
227–248
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Copeland, Dale
(2000)
‘The Constructivist Challenge to Structural Realism’
, International Security 25:
187–212
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Ellsberg, Daniel
(1961)
‘Risk, Ambiguity, and the Savage Axioms’
, Quarterly Journal of Economics 75:
643–669
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Evangelista, Matthew
(1999) Unarmed Forces: The Transnational Movement to End the
Cold War.
Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press
. Google Scholar | |
|
Garfinkel, Harold
(1967) Studies in Ethnomethodology.
New York: Polity Press
. Google Scholar | |
|
Giddens, Anthony
(1991) Modernity and Self-Identity.
New York: Polity Press
. Google Scholar | |
|
Glaser, Charles
(1994/5)
‘Realists as Optimists: Cooperation as Self-Help’
, International Security 19:
50–90
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Glaser, Charles
(1997)
‘The Security Dilemma Revisited’
, World Politics 50:
171–201
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Goldberg, Arthur
(1963) ‘Political Science as
Science’, in
Nelson Polsby
,
Robert Dentler
and
Paul Smith
(eds)Politics and Social Life, pp.
26–36.
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin
. Google Scholar | |
|
Gudykunst, William B.
and
Tsukasa Nishida
(2001)
‘Anxiety, Uncertainty, and Perceived Effectiveness of
Communication across Relationships and Cultures’
, International Journal of Intercultural Relations 25:
55–71
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Huysmans, Jef
(1998)
‘Security! What do you Mean? From Concept to Thick Signifier’
, European Journal of International Relations 4:
226–255
. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | |
|
Jervis, Robert
(1976) Perception and Misperception in International
Politics.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press
. Google Scholar | |
|
Jervis, Robert
(2001)
‘Was the Cold War a Security Dilemma?’
, Journal of Cold War Studies 3:
36–60
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Jervis, Robert
, Richard Ned Lebow and Janice Gross Stein (1985)
Psychology and Deterrence.
Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press
. Google Scholar | |
|
Johnson, Doyle Paul
(1990)
‘Security versus Autonomy Motivation in Anthony
Giddens’ Concept of Agency’
, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 20:
111–130
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Kelley, Harold
and
Anthony Stahelski
(1970)
‘Social Interaction Basis of Cooperators’ and
Competitors’ Beliefs about Others’
, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 16(1):
66–91
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Kinnvall, Catarina
(2004)
‘Globalization and Religious Nationalism: Self, Identity, and the
Search for Ontological Security’
, Political Psychology 25(5):
741–767
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Knight, Frank
(1971/1921) Risk, Uncertainty and Profit.
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press
. Google Scholar | |
|
Kruglanski, A.W.
(1989) Lay Epistemics and Human Knowledge: Cognitive and
Motivational Bases.
New York: Plenum Press
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Kydd, Andrew
(1997)
‘Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: Why Security-Seekers do not
Fight Each Other’
, Security Studies 7:
114–154
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Kydd, Andrew
(2000)
‘Trust, Reassurance, and Cooperation’
, International Organization 54:
325–358
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Laing, R.D.
(1969) The Divided Self.
Harmondsworth: Penguin
. Google Scholar | |
|
Larson, Deborah
(1997) Anatomy of Mistrust.
Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press
. Google Scholar | |
|
McSweeney
,
Bill
(1999) Security, Identity and Interests: A Sociology of
International Relations.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Manners, Ian
(2002) ‘European [Security] Union: From
Existential Threat to Ontological Security’, IIS Working
Papers, 05/2002,
Copenhagen Peace Research Institute
. Google Scholar | |
|
March, James G.
(1999) The Pursuit of Organizational Intelligence.
Malden, MA: Blackwell
. Google Scholar | |
|
Markus, Hazel
and
Paula Nurius
(1986)
‘Possible Selves’
, American Psychologist 41:
954–969
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Mearsheimer, John J.
(2001) The Tragedy of Great Power Politics.
New York: W.W. Norton
. Google Scholar | |
|
Mercer, Jonathan
(1995)
‘Anarchy and Identity’
, International Organization 49:
229–252
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Mikulincer, M.
and
V. Florian
(2000)
‘Exploring Individual Differences in Reactions to Mortality Salience’
, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 79:
260–273
. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | |
|
Mitzen, Jennifer
(2006)
‘Anchoring Europe's Civilizing Identity: Habits,
Capabilities, and Ontological Security’
, Journal of European Public Policy 13(2):
270–285
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Mor, Ben
and
Zeev Maoz
(1999)
‘Learning and the Evolution of Enduring International Rivalries’
, Conflict Management and Peace Science 17(1):
1–48
. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | |
|
Morrow, James
(1994) Game Theory for Political Scientists.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press
. Google Scholar | |
|
Nelson, L.J.
,
D.L. Moore
,
J. Olivetti
and
T. Scott
(1997)
‘General and Personal Mortality Salience and Nationalistic Bias’
, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 23:
884–892
. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | |
|
Posen, Barry
(1993) ‘The Security Dilemma and Ethnic
Conflict’, in
Michael E. Brown
(ed.)Ethnic Conflict and International Security, pp.
103–124.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Risse, Thomas
(2000)
‘“Let's Argue!”: Communicative
Action in World Politics’
, International Organization 54:
1–39
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Roe, Paul
(2000)
‘Former Yugoslavia: The Security Dilemma that Never Was?’
, European Journal of International Relations 6(3):
373–393
. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | |
|
Rosenau, James N.
(1986)
‘Before Cooperation: Hegemons, Regimes and Habit-Drive Actors in
World Politics’
, International Organization 40:
849–894
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Schimel, J.
,
L. Simon
,
J. Greenberg
,
T. Pyszczynski
,
S. Solomon
,
J. Waxmonsky
and
J. Arndt
(1999)
‘Stereotypes and Terror Management’
,Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 77:
905–926
. Google Scholar | Medline | |
|
Schroeder, Paul
(1984)
‘The Lost Intermediaries: The Impact of 1870 on the European System’
, International History Review VI(1):
1–17
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Schweller, Randall L.
(1996)
‘NeoRealism's Status-Quo Bias: What Security Dilemma?’
, Security Studies 5:
90–121
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Searle, John
(1995) The Construction of Social Reality.
New York: The Free Press
. Google Scholar | |
|
Snyder, Jack
(1991) Myths of Empire: Domestic Politics and International
Ambition.
Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press
. Google Scholar | |
|
Snyder, Jack
and
Robert Jervis
(1999) ‘Civil War and the Security
Dilemma’, in
Barbara Walter
and
Jack Snyder
(eds) Civil Wars, Insecurity, and Intervention, pp.
15–37.
Ithaca, NY: Columbia University Press
. Google Scholar | |
|
Solomon, Sheldon
,
Jeff Greenberg
and
Tom Pyszczynski
(1991) ‘A Terror Management Theory of Social
Behavior’, in
Mark Zanna
(ed.)Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 24, pp.
93–159.
New York: Academic Press, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
. Google Scholar | |
|
Steele, Brent
(2005)
‘Ontological Security and the Power of Self-Identity: British
Neutrality and the American Civil War’
,Review of International Studies 31(3):
519–540
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Van Evera
,
Stephen
(1999) Causes of War: Power and the Roots of Conflict.
Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press
. Google Scholar | |
|
Walker
,
Stephen
(ed.) (1987) Role Theory and Foreign Policy Analysis.
Durham, NC: Duke University Press
. Google Scholar | |
|
Walter, Barbara F.
(1997)
‘The Critical Barrier to Civil War Settlement’
, International Organization 51:
335–364
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Wendt, Alexander
(1999) Social Theory of International Politics.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Wendt, Alexander
(2001)
‘Driving with the Rearview Mirror: On the Rational Science of
Institutional Design’
, International Organization 55:
1019–1049
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Wendt, Alexander
(2004)
‘The State as Person in International Theory’
, Review of International Studies 29:
289–316
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Wight, Colin
(2001)
‘The Continuity of Change, or a Change in Continuity?’
, International Studies Review 3(1):
81–89
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Williams, Michael
(2005) The Realist Tradition and the Limits of International
Relations.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Willmott, Hugh C.
(1986)
‘Unconscious Sources of Motivation in the Theory of the Subject’
, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 16:
105–121
. Google Scholar |
