Rhythmen der Sicherheit

This article develops the concept of rhythm for analyzing the multiple temporalities of security. So far, Security Studies have mainly focused on how the future is taken into account. Different politics of anticipation have been identified, such as prevention and preemption, precaution and preparedness. This orientation toward the future corresponds with the sub-discipline’s preoccupation with threats that are, by definition, yet to come. However, the overriding concern for the future pushes other important temporal dimensions out of sight: the speed of chains of events, their situational acceleration or relative slowness, the force of established procedures or the interferences between different temporalities. The analysis of rhythms may capture these dimensions. It helps to understand temporalities of security as embodied patterns that materialize spatially. The article opens up three fresh perspectives in security research. First, securitization is never an isolated event but a rhythmic process that emerges through interrelations of technological artifacts, social conventions and forms of life. Second, security is not exclusively characterized by a punctual suspension of normal procedures but consists of routine repertoires of probing, testing, exercising or negotiating. Finally, rhythms generate an affective force that can stabilize but also challenge, disrupt or transform security dispositifs into polyrhythmic assemblages. The article delineates the strong analytic potential the notion of rhythm has for analyzing temporalities of security that has so far largely remained untapped