Paper short abstract:

Drawing upon fieldwork in Polish state institutions, the paper scrutinises how hegemonic imaginations of (in)security are translated in different contexts, focussing on the East-West asymmetry. In reviewing existing theoretical approaches, it seeks to theoretically advance an Anthropology of Security.

Paper long abstract:

This paper will scrutinise the impact of the enlargement of the EU and EU conditionality on the way Polish state institutions define, adapt, reproduce and deal with security issues. Since the new member states had to submit to a homogenising Europeanisation process, they also had to internalise the EU-15's concept of the "threatening other(s)" and shape their bureaucracies and policies accordingly. The EU's insistence on the Big 3, i.e. terrorists, irregular migrants, and organised crime as an extraordinary threat for internal security, follows the logic of securitisation as a practice that is both discursive and institutionalised in practical actions. As such it contributes to the perpetuation of old and the development of new practices and cognitive patterns.

Security, however, is differently experienced and culturally imagined. The East-European member states are security communities in their own right with their own categorisations and codifications of threats, and these may differ significantly from those of the EU-15, creating a tension which officials have to negotiate in their daily work.

Drawing upon fieldwork in Polish state institutions (ministry of the interior, police, border police), the paper will scrutinise how hegemonic imaginations of (in)security travel and are translated in different local contexts, particularly focussing on the East-West asymmetry. I contend that anthropology, dealing with phenomena of everyday culture that are framed by the wider context of the macro level, can make a valuable contribution to critical security studies. Therefore, in critically reviewing existing theoretical approaches, the paper seeks to theoretically advance a critical Anthropology of Security.