Latest issue of the Journal for Historical Social Research

The latest issue of the Journal for Historical Social Research (HSR) has been released:Security and Conspiracy in History, 16th to 21st Century
http://www.gesis.org/en/hsr/current-issues/

This Special Issue, edited by Beatrice de Graaf & Cornel Zwierlein, combines both of the recently emerging fields – conspiracy and security history – for the first time by asking how we can conceive their parallel history from the Renaissance to the present. The new situation of international and national security regimes after the Cold War has not only placed security studies at the top of the Political Science agenda, but is also currently causing the emergence of a new field of security history. Likewise, Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories have found a new great interest in the post-Cold War constellation, particularly following 9/11. There has been hitherto no attempt to conceptualize the development of Security and Conspiracy in a longue durée perspective. Remaining sensitive to the ancient and medieval forerunners, we nevertheless assume that both fully developed conspiracy theories and ‘security’ as a leading political aim are phenomena mainly found in modern history. Both can be treated as dispositives in a Foucauldian sense which challenge each other – real or imagined conspiracies are threats to the security of the state or the commonwealth. Both Security and Conspiracy need to be carefully historicized.

Anna-Teresa Grumblies, M.A.
GESIS - Leibniz-Institute for the Social Sciences
Journal for Historical Social Research
Editorial Assistant
Unter Sachsenhausen 6-8
D-50667 Köln, Germany
Tel: +49 (0)221 - 47694-145
http://www.gesis.org/hsr
Email: anna-teresa.grumblies@gesis.org