Privatizing civil society: outsourcing governance in John le Carré’s post-Cold War novels

Abstract

ABSTRACT John le Carré’s post-Cold War novels investigate the effects of the disinvestment in Euro-American civil societies and the diminishing justifications for securing democracy and the ‘free world’. As privatization and outsourcing function as primary techniques of ‘good governance’ in many western nations, security studies has offered numerous analyses of this phenomenon, particularly with the privatisation of military force in light of the GWOT. By putting contributions in security studies in dialogue with le Carré’s post-Cold War novels, I argue that le Carré’s post-Cold War novels explore how outsourcing war strategies during the Cold War become essential components of statecraft and security during the neoliberal moment when economic national security dominates in the face of the loss of clear sovereign enemies and state actors. Specifically, le Carré’s post-Cold War novels dramatise critically how market-driven security works between national or international legal orders, particularly in colonial and neocolonial contexts. I conclude that le Carré’s novels reveal an important ethical function for literature in modelling speculative scenarios for reflection on intelligence, security, and transformations in sovereignty while this paradoxical reality unfolds