Introduction: Social Histories of the Security State

Abstract:This introduction sketches the common themes of the five articles in this special section, outlines the importance of studying the security state as a central feature of modern social history, and suggests future avenues for research and analysis of security institutions devoted to policing, surveillance, violence, and control. It focuses particularly on: the globalization of security practices; the relationship between cultural subjectivity, social conditions, and state formation; the generative quality of security state activity; and questions of periodization, causation, and change over time.