Security, Violence and the Sacred

Manuel Mireanu

doi:10.22151/politikon.18.8

Authors

Manuel Mireanu Central European University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22151/politikon.18.8

Keywords:

security, violence, European Union, immigration

Abstract

This paper argues that the rise of anti-immigrant and anti-foreigners violence in Europe in the last years, and their consequential labelling as a threat to the citizens’ security, should be seen not only as effects of government practices. Rather, they should be seen as aspects of deeply embedded social phenomena, through which security and violence are generated and shaped from below, at the level of the society. Violence should be seen as a constitutive force of the community. This paper will then focus on the nexus between security, violence and the sacred. The sacred is able to situate the intrinsic violence of a community in a meaningful context, where its destructive force is converted into the generative force that reinforces the bonds between individuals. The work of Rene Girard on the ‘scapegoat’ will be used to interpret how violence and the sacred converge in the security demand of the population.

Author Biography

Manuel Mireanu, Central European University

Manuel Mireanu, 27, is a PhD student in the International Relations track of the Doctoral School of Political Science, Central European University, Budapest, with a project titled ‘Actors, Audiences and Societal Security: the Cases of Italian Vigilantes and Hungarian Paramilitary Patrols’. His current interests include critical security studies, political theory and ethnography. He received his M.A. from the same university, with a thesis titled ‘The EU’s Foreign Policy in the Black Sea Region: Border Discourses, Security and Legitimacy’. His B.A. was awarded by the University of his hometown, Timisoara, Romania, for a thesis on the EU’s foreign policy towards Russia.