Security of geography/geography of security

Author(s): Chris Philo

Source: Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series, Vol. 37, No. 1
(2012), pp. 1-7
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Boundary Crossings

Security of geography/geography of
security
Chris Philo

School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ
email: [email protected]

revised manuscript received 6 October 2011

It is often claimed that we live in 'insecure times',

geography/geography of security'. This double-
surrounded and confounded by countless chal- barrelled construction, if a touch contrived, shuttles
between an 'inward-looking' concern for the secu-
lenges to our personal, family, community, national
rity
and even global security. It is said that we now face(well-being and prospects) of geographical
research, learning, teaching and communication,
threats of seismic proportions arising from climate
change, environmental degradation, economic and an 'outward-looking' concern for how worldly
meltdown, geopolitical conflict and a diversity of
geographies are implicated in achieving or compro-
terrorisms, all contributing to deep-set feelings mising the security (safety and sustainability) of
of ill-being. It is asserted that we are in urgentenvironments,
need peoples and communities. My inten-
of new 'security measures' designed to thwarttion or at
is to suggest something with 'bite' - directing
attention to matters of substance that likely will
least ameliorate these multiple sources of insecurity,
so that we can become more secure in our homes, matter to many Conference participants - even
environments, nation-states and modes of travel- while recognising that, in so doing, I might get 'bit-
ling. Of course, though, much depends upon ten back' by those who find the theme either too
constraining (perhaps too disconnected from their
exactly who is the 'our' and the 'we' of these grand-
standing statements, since the insecurities faced byown substantive interests) or too political (or, alter-
many of the world's peoples - and hence the mea- nately, not political enough).
sures that might improve their senses of security - In the latter regard, it cannot be escaped that to
may well not be the same as those recognised by, to talk of security does immediately resonate with
use a simplistic shorthand, the more powerful eliteswhat might be taken as an 'establishment' dis-
of societies based in the Global North. The underly-course, bound up in the strategising of states and
ing sources of insecurity may possess something insupra-state organisations, notably but not exclu-
common, such as climate warming or financial ruin, sively in (or headquartered in) the Global North
but precisely how their implications work out for when responding to so-called global 'terror', 'crimi-
differing peoples in differing places spread across nality' or 'radicalisation'. It would be mistaken to
the globe is likely to be far from the same. More- dismiss these security concerns as groundless, not
over, the practices installed by certain peoples in least because those who suffer from acts of ter-
certain places when striving to enhance their own ror/criminality are usually entirely innocent, often
senses of security may end up exacerbating thethemselves relatively vulnerable and powerless.
insecurities felt by others in other places. In short,
There is hence warrant for geographers to pursue a
there are highly uneven and entangled geographiescautious engagement with 'official' security agen-
of security and insecurity to be located at a range of
das, and perhaps to deploy geospatial technologies
spatial scales and/or traced across a host of differ-where these might contribute meaningfully to
ent networks spread far and near across the globe. improving safety and reducing fear for insecure
I have chosen, as Chair of the 2012 RGS-IBG communities and populations, wherever they are
Conference, the conference theme of 'security of
found (Klinkenberg 2007). That said, there is no

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 2 Boundary Crossings
doubt that can also assess implications
many for what humans
regard sec
tainted by regard these as the 'resources' of energy,
'establish
water, food,
nationalistic, militaristic,
shelter and much more, whose availability in and
embroiled from different parts of the world
within the is starting to
ongo
and too prone mutate in dramatic
to ways, with countless ramifica-
seeing th
ronmental tions for the dynamics of global energy, water,
security) as pr
humanity (orfood and other networks. The processes
life) in of cli- gener
pockets of matic/environmental
humanity change may well be anthro-set w
national borders (Dalby 2009). Hence, security pogenic in origin and the associated security angle
becomes geographically narrowed to the likes of may be conceived chiefly in terms of human
'homeland security', with all of the exclusions that impacts,1 but the theories and methods essential to
such a construction inevitably brings, even as the revealing, characterising and explaining the pro-
task of keeping such bounded spaces secure cesses involved - complete with the requisite field,
appears to warrant diverse interventions in quite laboratory, statistical and computer simulation
other spaces elsewhere. Let me therefore indicate work - are those at the cutting-edge of high-quality
that I wish to place 'security' under critical scru- physical geography and its close cousins, environ-
tiny, never allowing it to become a tool wielded mental science and geosciences. Claims along these
thoughtlessly or instrumentally by sectional or par- lines, powerfully elaborated and compellingly illus-
tisan interests of any description. In my view, to trated, run throughout the recent Understanding the
proceed in any other fashion risks a profound changing planet report (NRC 2010), to which I will
insensitivity to questions of geography. return presently. In short, physical geographers
In the former regard, an obvious objection might surely do have much to offer when exploring the
be that my theme is more human than physical in its inter-related geographies of security, risk and
scope, contributing further to a sense held by some resources.2
physical geographers, not entirely unjustified, that A second response about feeling disconnected
the Conference has not always managed to accom-from the theme might arise from those human
modate their interests. I cannot pretend that my geographers who, wishing to remain close to what
own situation as a human geographer - indeed, an they take as the distinctively human- scale attributes
historical and social geographer with a disposition of human geography, find themselves alienated
for theory and historiography - is anything other from an ostensible focus on the scale of, say,
than influential in my thoughts about the theme. nation-states waging war. It is all too easy for 'big-S'
This said, I do believe that physical geography has Security concerns to crowd out seemingly more
much to say about security, most fundamentally in mundane matters of 'small-s' security, despite the
understanding the processes at work in producingfact that these two facets of S/security cannot but
the climatic and, more broadly, environmental be closely inter-linked. As the phrase 'homeland
changes that then feed through into compromising security' implies, actions on a national, even global,
the security of given 'environments' (O'Riordan stage can readily be allied with protecting the inti-
2004). Indeed, physical geographers can monitor, mate spaces of domesticity, the home and hearth,
measure, map and model how such changes arepotentially stirring into the mix of geopolitical
tied into shifting topographies, rising sea-levels praxis deeply problematic connotations about who
and lowering coastlines, and altered biomasses and 'we' would wish to invite into or, more tellingly,
conditions (for the survival) of the planet's organic debar from 'our' cosy homes (Kaplan 2003; also
life. They can evaluate the fragility or sustainability Blunt and Dowling 2006, and below). Actually,
of particular physical landscapes - as located vital moves have been made by the likes of femi-
assemblages of 'ecosystem services' - in the face of nist and cultural geographers to demonstrate the
such changes, evaluating the risks now posed to interweaving of global geopolitical machinations
the totality of life present within these landscapes with the embodied experiences, emotions and
dependent upon varying future climatic/environ- agency of everyday peoples in everyday places
mental scenarios, and formulating possible policies (e.g. Pain and Smith 2008; also Anderson 2011).
and practices that might mitigate these risks (albeit Jennifer Fluri's (2011) recent piece, delving into the
with the danger that mitigation 'here' might minute spaces of 'civilian (in)security' in Afghani-
prompt exacerbation 'there'). In a related vein, they stan, is exemplary in showing that such a stance

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 Boundary Crossings 3
can be brought theme of 'the squarely
geographical imagination' (Danielsinto
ical security 2011), itstudies. As
is an attempt to reflect in as broad-brush an
the 'closest-in'
fashion as possible human
on the overall sweep of what geog
may be G/geography does,
recalled can and maybe should
that the entrain. exis
choanalyst R.D.
It is to wonder about Laing coins
what makes for the security
security' to characterise
or insecurity of G/geography in all of these guises, a
desired by a mostprompt with obvious charge people. when it comes to Th
opposite, securing Geography in schools and universities,
'ontological msecu
of inner but with hazier connotations
dis-ease bereft when it comes to of a
tainties' (Laing
securing (a role for) 1959, geography outwith 39):
an institu- a
problematic family
tional-educational setting. or socia
confusion of A partial
realitywindow for reflectionand here can be the un
strange avoidance
recent Professional Geographer or comp
forum discussion of
The upshotthecan entail
US National Research feeli
Council's Understanding
unplaced inthethe changing planet 'real
report (NRC 2010). world'The chal-
by contorted lenge to the strategies
committee of eminent scholars who fo
and setting authored
boundariesthis report was to demonstrate how (also
the
which regard 'geographical therapeutic
sciences' can work towards answer- p
'secure the ing self'
strategic questions- about perhaps
environmental, eco- e
psychic anchorage
nomic, social and technological in change.mateThrough
(Parr 2008) -
showingmight the contributions of be conte
these sciences, per-
haps most obviously in addressing 'how to under-
stand and respond to environmental change', the
Security of G/geography
report engages directly with the research under-
On the first taken, rendering it a valuable
barrel of show-case my for what th
threats currently
the discipline (broadly conceived) assail can genuinelyth
health, offer, not least to thecoherence,
integrity, overall 'security agenda' as I
of geography. am discussing In it here.
this The forumconnec discussants
Geography broadly asconclude a that recognisabl
the authors have done a fine
taught and job, learned
convincingly orientating at geographicaldiffe
methods
wherein the fate
(if less so theories) to of school
'big picture' problems, and g
tralised, but also
even managing to smuggleas in signalstheoris
about
lished on and otherwise
'engines of inequality' necessarily linking, say, food ap
geographers security in universities
in some places with food insecurity else-
where (maybe where (Robbins in 2011, 311-12). The Chair of the
governmen
sultancies,committee, NGOs). Yet,
meanwhile, is 'confident that the report I
geography as agood
can do some wider, less-d
for society, geographical scien-
inquiry, perspective
tists and geographers' (Murphy 2011, 342).or Unsur- eve
world, which prisingly, relates
though, one issue is the decision
to to its
schools and widenuniversities,
the optic from academic Geography to a raft bu
much more as
of 'geographical it reaches
sciences', potentially meaning aca- ou
public life and
demics from policy,
any discipline who deploy what and can ev
and conduct of
be agreed everybody
as a geographical sensibility in acquiring, a
(perhaps conversing,
processing, visualising and applying 'data'. blogg
Some
daily business. Toby this
discussants are unnerved an extent
move, detecting a
Johnston's (1986) distinction between 'academic' threat to the security of ('big-G') Geography, or, in
and 'vernacular' geographies, and it quickly shadesa more nuanced critique, worrying that the richly
into recent concerns with what has become known divergent streams currently comprising the disci-
as the 'impact' agenda (Phillips 2010) where,pline it are instead being shoe-horned into 'a single
might be said, (academic) Geography can beget big "S" Science approach' (Barnes 2011, 335). The
geography (diffusing from the academy). Nonethe- latter approach, predicated on large, well-funded
less, in the spirit of my predecessor's conference trans-disciplinary teams, undoubtedly has much to

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 4 Boundary Crossings
contribute, research
especially
on prison geographies (e.g. Sibleyin and Van cra
climatic-environmental
Hoven 2009), while my own inquiries into the histor- cha
security of the
ical geography planet
of lunatic asylums and other 'secure may
efforts (although not
places'5 selected for the incarceration of thetheir
'mad'
view, there (Philo
should2004, esp. ch. 4) can bebe no
cited. Given the loca- sim
wishing to tion
(re-)circle the
of the 2012 RGS-IBG Conference, it is pertinent w
core vision of
to realise Geography
that Edinburgh, this prime 'city of reason'
exclusionary in the rebuffing
European Enlightenment, was also home toof a a
neither should
cluster of early there
experiments in creatingbe, bounded as
circling of secure
the spaces forwagons
its more 'unreasonable' denizens arou
gular model of
(Philo 1999). The primeacademic
rationale of such spaces is
Science.4 To evidently
my to establish clear boundaries, with
mind, theboth s
demands a flexible,
physical and symbolic dimensions,outwardserving more to
stantly nourished
keep in inmates than to keep through
out unwanted others;
my PhD supervisor,
and, as such, their spatiality is the reverseDerek
of most
'geographers in
other 'spaces other
of security' considered below. discip
to the plurality of
A second strand is landscapes philoso
of defence, after the
experiments title ofand
the book editedengagemen
by John Gold and George
ously mobilised
Re vili (2000a). Writingto on the eve render
of 9/11, it is pre-
problems ofscient
ourthat they made times.
the following observations:

Whatever one's assessment of the long-term prospects

Geographies
for global of
security after thesecurity
end of the Cold War, other
indications suggest that little has occurred to reduce the
There is no doubt that 'sec
role of security considerations at other levels. . . .
present theme in countless
Indeed, it may be argued that concerns about security,
amazed that a trawl for bo
control and reduction of risk become increasingly impor-
sity Library using 'securit
tant influences in the conduct of everyday life. ... In
duced 5710 hits. It also struck me that no less than
the process, we find the growth of 'landscapes of
129 of these books, including e-books, had been
defence', defined here as landscapes shaped or other-
accessioned with 2010 or 2011 publication dates, sug-
wise materially affected by formal or informal strategies
gesting that security is right up there as a current
designed to reduce the risk of crime, or deter intrusion,
or cope with actual or perceived threats to the security
preoccupation in academia. It was also staggering
of the
to appreciate how many topics of inquiry now area's occupants. (Gold and Revill 2000b, 2-3)
have security as a theme, and here is a flavour of
the many words combined with 'security' in This the is a useful quote, and - in tandem with the
book's coverage of topics like city build-
book titles from my Glasgow list: aviation; collec-
ings/design, 'gated communities', CCTV surveil-
tive; communication; computer; cross-border; cyber;
data; design; energy; environmental; food; food lance and policing geographies - it encapsulates a
chain; global; human; information; infrastructure;geographical take on what has since been termed
the all-encompassing 'securitisation' of everyday
international; IT; maritime; military; mobile appli-
cation; multimedia; national; network; social; space; (at least in certain parts of the globe). This
life
transmission grid; water. Some of these terms may trend towards securitisation has undoubtedly
intensified after 9/11 (Dalby 2011), spurred by this
be interchangeable, closely related or hierarchically
dreadful event but also, as some would claim, with
nested: whatever, they suggest a bewildering range
of possibilities, all of which, I would insist, cannot offering a 'justification' for diverse authorities
9/11
but have geographical dimensions. to ratchet up their security measures with a view
to clamping down on all manner of threats/
There are perhaps three readily identifiable
strands of geographical security studies, the first of
'misfits' (most of whom have nothing to do with
terror/terrorists). In Cindi Katz' s (2008, 59) caustic
which is work on carcerai geographies, specifically
alighting on the spaces set aside for 'securing' remarks,
- occasioned by her specific inquiries into
detaining, locking up/away - problematic popula- the small spaces of childhood security, the result is
tions of one kind or another. There is a small body'the
of reign of trumped-up paranoia' or the age of

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 Boundary Crossings 5
'Operation Enduring Watchf
end up in the firing line, sometimes literally, their
not only 9/11 deepening insecurity
that inextricably entangled with
has offer
as Jenniferthe efforts Hyndman (2007
at enhancing the security felt by others,
of securitisation inwereSri
often those whose own life-worlds already, Lan
public fears about
relatively speaking, on the secure sufferin
side of things. In
tsunami disaster. sketchy outline, then, such is the existing cast of
A closely related third strand is a corpus of stud- geographical security studies, but I could envisage
ies broadly framed by work on critical geopolitics the, Conference being an occasion for building
and here a key reference would be the collection widely on these secure foundations.
on Spaces of security and insecurity edited by Alan
Ingram and Klaus Dodds (2009a). Explicitly framed
Security without boundaries?
as exploring 'geographies of the war on terror' , but
not over-stressing the history-changing natureMichael of Dillon (1996) has traced the etymological
9/11, the editors propose that some chapters routes of 'security' to the Greek asphaseia, meaning
not to trip up or fall down, and has developed a
revisit some of the relatively well-known aspectspersuasive
of argument to the effect that security
recent geopolitics, but with careful conceptual analysis
stems ultimately from a metaphysical desire for
that advances our knowledge of them still further.
certitude. Since something 'secure' is supposed to
Others extend into terrains that are less often explored,
be 'fixed or fastened so as not to become loose or
such as the implications of current security policies for
be lost' ( Oxford English Dictionary), Dillon's claim
diasporic groups, links between action taken to secure
[hu]mankind and action to secure ecosystems, and can the be extended, and given a spatial inflection, by
suggesting that attaining security is often about
responses of artists to contemporary geopolitics. Rather
than make expansive, generalising claims, they tend drawing boundaries that fix/fasten a clearly delim-
ited portion of 'stuff' or 'world' whose conditions
towards careful contextualisation in terms of particular
settings. (Ingram and Dodds 2009b, xiii) can be tightly controlled. Within this cordoned-off
domain, certainty can supposedly reign; indeed,
A concern for geopolitical 'scripting' remains full and reliable knowledge of what is in the
prominent, uncovering the work performed by domain can be obtained, and all eventualities per-
security as a master-script of the tectonic shifts taining to the domain can be anticipated, precisely
occurring between geopolitical plates, including the because nothing that might disrupt or corrupt its
patent unease when states are confronted with an contents is allowed to enter. In this way, anxieties
enemy electing to operate interstitially and seem- are supposedly allayed about whatever might
ingly outwith conventional command structures. prompt instabilities or create dissonances; in sum,
Moreover, '[t]o speak of security is to talk about the security of the 'stuff' or 'world' in question is
insecurity', remarks Timothy Luke (2009, xi) in his supposedly accomplished. The impetus is to
foreword to the collection, such that '[w]ithout pro- impose, and rigorously to police, strong boundaries
ducing the latter, the need for the former is not that both hold things in and, more importantly still,
ever experienced, detected or considered'. In this keep other things out. The boundaries, ideally, will
vein and echoing remarks above, attention is con- not be weak, permeable or wide enough to harbour
sistently directed to the articulation of security and anxiety-inducing 'ambiguities' (hybrids, if you will,
insecurity, and a crucial angle is recognising how which are neither one thing nor another; in biblical
often it is that certain groups of people - by virtue terms, neither 'fish nor fowl').
of who and where they are - become themselves For geographers such as David Sibley (1981 1995),
both insecure and likely to be subject to security Gunnar Olsson (1980 1991), Dagmar Reichert (1992)
measures. The paradigm case is immigrants/refu- and others, the drawing of boundaries is always
gees/asylum-seekers, the 'waste' or 'outcasts' of simultaneously an act in thought, conceptualising
modernity (Bauman 2004; also Noxolo 2009; Noxolo 'objects' that should be kept apart, and one with
and Huysmans 2009), either turned away at the material repercussions, as when constructing a
border, perhaps regarded as potential terrorists, or fence, a frontier, a Berlin Wall. My suggestion is
constantly surveilled and otherwise harassed if hence that there is much that unites discussion of,
allowed in. Yet, many other vulnerable, precarious, on the one hand, the boundaries that secure a disci-
subaltern and otherwise marginal(ised) populations pline and, on the other, the boundaries that secure a

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 6 Boundary Crossings
geographical are already
area. changing quite drastically.' A touch
Crucially
lar dynamichyperbolically,
may it might be be said that arising
this argument
to secure their disputes the specialness
favoured of humans as somehow di
'above' local ecologies, seeing them rather as just
pants of an area - or, more
peculiarly disruptive life-forms hopelessly enmeshed
who have jurisdiction over
in these ecologies, thereby inviting back in physical
secure that area: in both ins
geographers (and notably biogeographers) as the
shut out anything perceive
prime contributors to debates about environmental
possibly also security.to shut in ever
erly belonging. 2 In this respect, I am Italso indebtedshould
to several of my be
ous worries about
physical geography colleagues at both
the University of sets
is ring-fencing Glasgow, who shared Geography
with me their thoughts about a
defence', not physical geography
least perspective on my because
chosen theme.
Moreover, one wrote as follows:
to fuel anxieties about what
paranoias about the
Security could . . . encompass 'aliens'
in physical geogra-
readiness tophy 'resilience
explore and adaptation' of landscapes to other
realms (figurative change, where that change may andbe environmen- real)
bating senses tal/human of pressure. [T]heinsecurity
next level of security
summary, I could be 'security in our knowledge',
arrive atfor example,a clear
able) stance on how confident are we that our understanding cor-
matters of se
rectly describes this resilience and adaptation?'
the long-term security of e
(Waldron personal communication 2011)
or a people/community/en
depend less Thison sealing
double-level of thinking about security strikes me the
on an open-handed as particularly incisive, potentially signalling -
another if alw
encouragement way of deepening my of arguments here.boundary
3 The notion of 'ontological security' has been adopted
quite widely, and with varying interpretations, across
Acknowledgements
the social sciences. Revealingly, Mitzen (2006)
I must thank Alison Blunt, Steve Daniels, Made- deploys it at the scale of states and world politics,
arguing that states seek ontological security in the
leine Hatfield, Martin Evans, Catherine Souch and
sense of regularised relationships with other states. It
Stephanie Wyse for their excellent advice and gen- is important to appreciate the close link posited by
erous encouragement: their input has, I feel, greatly Laing between ontological security and the 'drawing'
improved the final version of this essay. I must of (material and symbolic) boundaries around the
also thank colleagues at the University of Glasgow self, an act that could lead to problematic, even per-
for their responses to a query about my proposed verse outcomes. Such a perspective can, it seems, be
Conference theme, but particularly Paul Bishop, readily up-scaled to much larger entities and territo-
ries.
Deborah Bryceson, Jim Hansom, Hester Parr, Paul
4 The geomorphologist, Michael Church, while pro-'Big
Routledge, Jo Sharp, Rhian Thomas and Susan
Waldron. Science' in many respects, is nonetheless circumspect
in proposing how, when dealing with the 'dominating
mega-problem' of 'environmental stewardship', it
Notes remains likely that:

1 Significantly, some human geographers arrive at an Solutions will come in small pieces. They will not,
in the main, be put into place by the scientists. It
argument against always treating the 'natural' world
and its non-human inhabitants through the lens of will require analysts who know a good deal of envi-
human discourses, needs and impacts (e.g. Lorimer ronmental science, but who also have considerable
sophistication in the political and policy arts, to
2005), instead declaring that the security of an envi-
know what should be done and what is feasible to
ronment should be interpreted with reference to all
of the life that it supports (whether or not humans do. That sounds like a possible role for the . . .
dwell there; also Barker 2010). 'This is not securitybroadly trained physical geographer. (Church 2005,
understood as preparing for war with rival states/ 130)

writes Simon Dalby (2009, 172), but rather 'security

5 The term 'secure places' was explicitly deployed in
in terms of ecological understandings of humanity
the earliest English national legislation, from the early
as a new presence in a biosphere that we [humans]

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 Boundary Crossings 7
1700s, whichLorimer H 2005 Cultural geography: the busyness
specified the of being appr
local 'justices' upon
'more-than-representational' learning
Progress in Human Geography 29 a
tics' 83-94
wandering the streets.
Luke T 2009 Foreword in Ingram A and Dodds К eds Spaces
of security and insecurity: geographies of the war on terror Ash-
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