Jonathan Luke Austin

On 21st November 2017 I presented one of my latest research projects at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies as part of its International Relations and Political Science Seminar Series. At the seminar I presented a paper that theoretically grounds some of the work currently being developed at the Violence Prevention (VIPRE) Initiative…

Between 16-18th November 2017, I participated in a workshop at the University of Hamburg’s Center for Globalization and Governance (CGG) on ‘New International Relations Theory (NIRT)’. The workshop broad together leading scholars whose work focuses on practice theory and normativity including Vincent Pouliot, Anna Leander, Antje Wiener, Mervyn Frost, Frederick Kratochwill, and others. At the workshop,…

On Thursday 9th November, Jonathan Luke Austin (Lead Researcher at the Violence Prevention Initiative) presented findings from the Initiative in a lecture entitled ‘Designing Against Evil: Breakthroughs in Violence Prevention.’ The lecture was followed by a panel discussion with Professors Keith Krause and Anna Leander of the Graduate Institute and Vincent Ballon, Head of the…

On the 7th of November 2017 I participated in the IR Seminar Series of the University of Copenhagen. This event brought together presentations and discussions from leading scholars in the field including Cynthia Weber, Lene Hansen, Barry Buzan,  Katja Lindskov Jakobsen, Ole Waever, Trine Villumsen Berling and others. At the seminar, I presented a working paper…

On the 30th of October 2017 I participated in a Guest Editors writing workshop at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) with my colleagues Rocco Bellanova and Mareile Kaufmann. The workshop served as a setting in which to finalise plans for the editorial introduction to our forthcoming special issue of the leading security studies journal Security…

On the 26th of October, I was an invited participant of a workshop at the University of St Andrews on the contemporary politics of torture. The workshop was organised by Professors Tony Lang, Faye Donnelley, and Rory Cox at the University of St Andrews and invited leading thinkers on political violence including Ruth Blakeley, Juha…

Abstract: This paper theorizes the simultaneous enaction of securitizing and desecuritizing moves. It argues that the frequent simultaneity of these two processes, which are normally considered mutually exclusive within Securitization Theory (ST), has previously gone unnoticed given a set of methodological, temporal, and ontological biases that have developed within ST. Demonstrating how these biases can…

The VIPRE Initiative’s latest publication is now available, below or by clicking here. The concept note lays out the contours of the Initiative for both interested academics and practitioners. Abstract The Violence Prevention (VIPRE) Initiative explores novel approaches to preventing violent abuses carried out most frequently by state agents in contexts of conflict. The Initiative…

The VIPRE Initiative’s latest publication Becoming a Torturer: Towards a Global Ergonomics of Care is now available. Published within the International Committee of the Red Cross’ Review, this peer-reviewed publication draws on Lead Researcher of VIPRE Jonathan Luke Austin’s theoretical understanding of the process by which individuals unintentionally carry out aberrant violences like torture. Combined with primary source…

In a few weeks time, I will be attending the University of Marburg’s Localizing Global Security: Technologies, Protocols, Infrastructure conference where, with Anna Leander, I have been invited to present a paper on the role of ‘visibility’ as a social scientific concept in sustaining global security imaginaries. The conference draws together leading scholars from the field including Louise…