Introduction

Abstract

The evolution of collective interpretations of perceived threats such as ‘organized crime’ or ‘rogue states’ often transcends time and space: once established as a relatively stable interpretation in one locale, typically initially at the national level, their further genesis will extend beyond the geographical locations and time periods of their initial invention. Accepted interpretations of threats thus have the potential to travel between locales, be they national, regional or global, and in this way potentially encounter a great variety of different local discourses on their way. Each encounter may then transform the initial interpretation and adapt it to the particularities of the new locale. It is the purpose of this book to explore these processes of evolution, travel and transformation in a discourse and to suggest an analytical framework which allows one to think about them more systematically.