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Anxiety, time, and ontological security's third-image potential

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2020

Andrew R. Hom Open the ORCID record for Andrew R. Hom [Opens in a new window]  and
Brent J. Steele Open the ORCID record for Brent J. Steele [Opens in a new window]
Andrew R. Hom*
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh, School of Social and Political Sciences, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Brent J. Steele
Affiliation:
University of Utah, Department of Political Science, Salt Lake City, UT, United States of America
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: Andrew.Hom@ed.ac.uk
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Abstract

In this article, we begin to extend ontological security to third-image theorizing. We argue that the autobiographical conceptions of international agents, along with other stories told about international politics, constitute ‘the international’ as a system, society, community, or inhabitable realm beyond and between first- and second-image relations. To develop this point, we focus on the relationship between narrative, anxiety, and time. We contend that ontological security issues resound in the third image once we shift from treating the international realm as social agents' external environment to treating it as a collective project in its own right. Doing so highlights the promise of ontological security studies for further differentiating international fear and anxiety, for enabling novel explanations of international phenomena, and for elaborating third-image identity formation as a wide-ranging timing effort to surmount a dynamic, processual environment full of interconnected coordination challenges.

Keywords

timeontological securitythird imagetiminganxiety
Type
Symposium: Anxiety, Fear, and Ontological Security in World Politics: Edited by Catarina Kinnvall and Jennifer Mitzen
Information
International Theory , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , July 2020 , pp. 322 - 336
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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