Abstract
This paper provides a detailed study of the liquid bomb plot from 2006,
focusing on the ways in which the plot was constituted as “an event unlike
others” (Adey, Anderson, and Lobo Guerrero 2011, 340). Engaging
with a critical body of scholarship that examines how events are assembled
and governed as emergencies, disasters, or catastrophes, the paper
explores two sets of questions. First, the paper engages with the temporal
dimension of the event, asking how the liquid bomb plot was mediated
as a particularly risky event that required immediate action. Second, the
paper focuses on the spatial dimension of the event and asks how the
plot also threatened a seemingly interconnected system of global airline
movements and a mobile form of life. Drawing on Cowen’s (2010) analysis
of the “seam space,” I am particularly interested in developments of
reform and experimentation at the airport and in how newly emerging
technologies are targeted at keeping airports both secure and open.
Ultimately, by examining the liquid bomb plot “in the middle of events”
(Barry 2006, 244), the paper goes beyond an understanding of the security
event as something that happens abruptly and by surprise, and sheds
light on the ongoing work that is involved in constituting and governing
events.
focusing on the ways in which the plot was constituted as “an event unlike
others” (Adey, Anderson, and Lobo Guerrero 2011, 340). Engaging
with a critical body of scholarship that examines how events are assembled
and governed as emergencies, disasters, or catastrophes, the paper
explores two sets of questions. First, the paper engages with the temporal
dimension of the event, asking how the liquid bomb plot was mediated
as a particularly risky event that required immediate action. Second, the
paper focuses on the spatial dimension of the event and asks how the
plot also threatened a seemingly interconnected system of global airline
movements and a mobile form of life. Drawing on Cowen’s (2010) analysis
of the “seam space,” I am particularly interested in developments of
reform and experimentation at the airport and in how newly emerging
technologies are targeted at keeping airports both secure and open.
Ultimately, by examining the liquid bomb plot “in the middle of events”
(Barry 2006, 244), the paper goes beyond an understanding of the security
event as something that happens abruptly and by surprise, and sheds
light on the ongoing work that is involved in constituting and governing
events.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 308–326 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | International Political Sociology |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 26 May 2017 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Sept 2017 |
Funding
Author’s note: I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and editors for their insightful and helpful suggestions. I would also like to thank my colleagues in the Politics Department at the University of Amsterdam, especially Marieke de Goede and Otto Holman. Financial support for this research was provided by the Dutch Council for Scientific Research (NWO), through the VIDI-grant European Security Culture, award number 45209-016.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Dutch Council for Scientific Research | |
| Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek | 45209-016 |