COVID-19: (In)Security without (Im)Mobility? Bringing the Politics of Mobility to Critical Security Studies

Abstract

The article is focused on three ideas: the COVID-19 pandemic, security and mobility. While the coronavirus is a potential security threat due to its movement (transmission, infection), both movement and mobility are a “blind spot” in Critical Security Studies. The purpose of this article is to analyse the pandemic-security nexus through the lens of the politics of mobility and explore the analytical benefits of bringing the Paradigm of the New Mobilities closer to Critical Security Studies. The article argues that this lens can help explain how (in)mobilities and (in)securities intersect and co-produce with each other. Moreover, in addressing the pandemic-security nexus within the politics of mobility, relevant challenges arise for Critical Security Studies such as explaining the discursive dimension in relation to others such as movement and experience; the action of human and non-human agencies; and the different locations of power as “multi-sited”.