Ontological Security and International Relations: Outlining Elements of the Construction of Biographical Narratives
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26792/rbed.v13i1.75462Keywords:
critical security studies, ontological security, biographical narrative, International RelationsAbstract
This article contributes to the current literature on the concept of ontological security by outlining the elements of one possible strategy for ontological security-seeking: the
construction of biographical narratives. Ontological security refers to the existential need for a consistent sense of subjectivity in relation to significant others and the social environment. The biographical narrative is one of the strategies in the process of ontological security-seeking, although its study typically involves the isolated analysis of some of its components, resulting in a limited understanding of its role. This raises the question: what
are the constitutive dimensions of the biographical narrative and its role in the process of seeking ontological security? The analysis of the biographical narrative as a strategy for seeking ontological security requires consideration of five constitutive dimensions: emotional,
temporal, spatial, relational, and normative. Thus, this study offers an analytical framework for future empirical analyses, enabling an understanding of the different constitutive
facets of the biographical narrative, which, although mutually constitutive and intertwined, each captures central aspects of the phenomenon that would be overlooked in
aggregated analyses, thereby offering greater explanatory potential.
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