This book argues that catastrophe is a particular way of governing future events - such as terrorism, climate change or pandemics - which we cannot predict but which may strike suddenly, without warning, and cause irreversible damage.

At a time where catastrophe increasingly functions as a signifier of our future, imaginaries of pending doom have fostered new modes of anticipatory knowledge and redeployed existing ones. Although it shares many similarities with crises, disasters, risks and other disruptive incidents, this book claims that catastrophes also bring out the very limits of knowledge and management. The politics of catastrophe is turned towards an unknown future, which must be imagined and inhabited in order to be made palpable, knowable and actionable. Politics of Catastrophe critically assesses the effects of these new practices of knowing and governing catastrophes to come and challenges the reader to think about the possibility of an alternative politics of catastrophe.

This book will be of interest to students of critical security studies, risk theory, political theory and International Relations in general.

About the Author

Claudia Aradau is Lecturer in International Studies and Research Director of the Securities Programme, Centre for Citizenship, Identities and Governance at The Open University. She is the author of Rethinking Trafficking in Women: Politics out of Security.

Rens van Munster is Senior Researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS). He is the author of Securitizing Immigration: The Politics of Risk in the EU.

Reviews

'This book advances our understanding of the complex and often paradoxical terrain of the catastrophe as a field of knowledge and target of anticipatory governance. In doing so, its authors stand at the forefront of new thinking about contemporary regimes of security, power and governmentality.' - Mitchell Dean, University of Newcastle, Australia

'This excellent volume is the first book-length engagement with the implications of catastrophe for contemporary practices of security governing. It is an important contribution to our current understandings of the politics of preemption, and it is indispensable reading for anyone interested in the contemporary logic of security and securitization.' - Mariek de Goede, University of Amsterdam

Book Information
ISBN 9780415627382
Author Claudia Aradau
Format Paperback
Page Count 176
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 272g