14-15 February 2008, Royal Holloway, University of London. Workshop Organisers: Alister Miskimmon, Royal Holloway, University of London Christoph Meyer, King’s College LondonThe workshop seeks to bring together scholars with different disciplinary backgrounds working on the perception of and response to threat. We don’t see threats as self-evident or easily measurable realities, but the outcome of a complex process of social and political construction. The aspiration of the workshop is to better understand how emotional, cognitive, social and political dynamics shape the process and its outcome in terms of action at various levels. Threats are understood a broad way and do not have to be limited to the concerns over physical security of individuals or the autonomy of the state. Societal and political threats perceptions are influenced by epistemic communities’ judgements (intelligence, police, scientists), but they are also shaped by political actors seeking to circumvent normal standards of public debate, parliamentary process or legal principles and rights. Threats have been commoditised by the news media and other businesses to gain attention and maximize sales. Conversely, public opinion is not only influenced by official and media communication, but may also turn into an independent source of bottom-up pressure for particular types of action to tackle the perceived causes of threat. Threats can induce a range of different but strong emotional responses such as fear and anger and may thus shift political responses in a certain way. External threats can increase social cohesion while internal ones can contribute to social destabilization and polarization. Social and political causes of threat can be addressed through widely different strategies, ranging from the coercive/eliminatory to non-coercive/accommodating.

We are looking for papers that address any of the above dynamics or questions that are not listed, but fit into the broader theme. The intention is to publish suitable papers as a special issue of a journal in the broad field of international relations/political science.

Please send the title of your proposed contribution, an abstract of about 500 words, and your full contact details, to Alister.Miskimmon@rhul.ac.uk with copy to Christoph.Meyer@kcl.ac.uk

We will apply for funding for participants’ travel expenses and will provide accommodation on the campus.