Cross-case patterns of security production in hybrid political orders: their shapes, ordering practices, and paradoxical outcomes

Abstract

Examinations of substate security and everyday peace in hybrid political orders are mostly limited to single-case studies or statistical analyses. Seldom are qualitative methods applied with a comparative aim that can unveil patterns of security production. I attempt such an approach by studying 12 cases across the Central African Republic, Haiti, Somaliland, and South Sudan. I investigate (1) where hybrid interactions take place, (2) how they happen and (3) what this means for people’s security. I argue, first, that hybrid ordering shapes socio-geography by separating a rigorously controlled inner from a securitised outer circle. Second, I find that actors clash over the use of contrasting ordering principles on a spectrum from stable to fluid. Third, measured security indices, paradoxically, often diverge from how safe people feel depending on public support for the socio-geographical shape and ordering principles applied. These cross-case patterns of hybrid political orders underscore the importance of comparing political ordering processes.