Abstract
Abstract Scholars of international relations frequently explore how states normalize the use of military force through processes of militarization, yet few have analyzed how new information and communication technologies impact on these processes. The essays in this forum address this gap, and consider the political significance of new technologies, new actors, and new practices that shape “Militarization 2.0” and normalize political violence in the digital age. The authors in this forum rely, to varying degrees, on common militarized tropes and dichotomies (such as authenticity, belonging, and (de)humanizing framings) that are key to militarization, including those devices that rest on gender, race/ethnicity, and heteronormativity. Moving beyond a military-centered approach to militarization, the authors’ questions cover ministries of foreign affairs; the embodied performances of celebrity leaders and insurgency groups; arms producers, the military video game industry, and private military and security companies; and violence entrepreneurs. The forum closes with reflections from Cynthia Enloe.
Highlights
Scholars of international relations frequently explore how states normalize the use of military force through processes of militarization, yet few
While scholars explore how states and other actors normalize their use of force through practices of militarization (Enloe 2000; Cockburn 2010; Welland 2017; Basham 2018; Baker 2020), there remains little attention given to how militarization works in and through new information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the digital age
Militarism has to do with both being disposed toward and having the social purpose to use military force, while militarization is an embedded sociological process—underpinned by communication (Stavrianakis and Selby 2012; Mabee and Vucetic 2018). Because this process has implications for how militarism manifests in and across societies (Abrahamsen 2018), we focus in this forum on how ICTs intersect with and facilitate a wide variety of actors and practices in militarization as a communicative process that normalizes political violence
Summary
Scholars of international relations frequently explore how states normalize the use of military force through processes of militarization, yet few. Few studies have explored whether, and how, MFAs contribute to militarization This gap is substantial given that during conflicts in the digital age, MFAs are tasked with creating an online environment that enables a country to obtain its foreign policy goals, including real-time justifications of state-sanctioned political violence through social media. This requires that we consider the myriad ways in which social media technologies are transforming how war, and the use of armed force, is communicated as a commonsense solution to political problems by actors we would hope to be more concerned with diplomacy, negotiation, and peace
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