Intelligence, anti-diplomacy and liquid security: Control systems for a turbulent world

Abstract

In turbulent global dynamics, surveillance systems have state-of-the-art technologies capable of easily breaching the protocols for information protection produced by each State in international relations, disrupting confidence levels achieved under different regimes in the definition of common threats and risks to security. Due to the asymmetries of international power in different spheres, the practices of intelligence surveillance and instrumentation have been approached from the hegemonic paradigms of International Relations and Intelligence, marginalizing the concurrence of other actors and reflections on their ethical positions. Therefore, from this article we reveal, through critical (poststructuralist) analysis, the explanatory limitations of realistic epistemic concepts: intelligence, anti-diplomacy and surveillance that simplify the understanding of complex current security scenarios. Finally, we validate the relevance of new analytics for the critical interpretation of these scenarios and their challenges.