The discourse of security: language, illiberalism and governmentality

This title explores how language constructs the meaning and praxis of security in the 21st century.

Combining the latest critical theories in poststructuralist and political philosophy with discourse analysis techniques, it uses corpus tools to investigate four collections of documents harvested from national and international security organisations.

This interdisciplinary approach provides insights into the ways in which discourse has been mobilised to construct a strategic response to major terrorist attacks and geo-political events.

The authors identify the way in which it is used to realise tactics of governmentality and form security as a discipline.

This at once constructs a state of exception while also adhering to the principles of liberalism.