Solidarity through service: the role of the guild of IT service managers in the field of European (in)security

Abstract

ABSTRACT Critical research is highlighting how processes of (in)security are transformed by the participation of new agencies and actors, especially data managers and IT systems operators. Expanding analysis to account for these new agencies and actors requires engaging with their professional practices. I argue that these actors can be understood as a guild of IT service managers who operate under a logic of service and are not just another (in)securitising actor. To do so, I analyse the practices of operational management carried out by the European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA). By organising its work in line with a logic of service, eu-LISA rationalises its seemingly contradictory relationship to the field of (in)security. Despite its active participation in the construction and maintenance of IT systems for border security, eu-LISA does not make sense of its work or role in terms of security. Rather, it views its work as distinct from but in support of that of professionals of (in)security. I characterise this relationship to the field as one of delimiting security. Identifying this relationship reframes the securitisation/desecuritisation dualism as a continuum, reflecting the increasing complexity of actors’ relationships to security.