MACMILLAN Crisis and Ontological Insecurity: Serbia’s Anxiety over Kosovo's Secession (Central and Eastern European Perspectives on International Relations)

Review “This excellent study moves the scholarship on ontological security in IR significantly forward. Ejdus greatly enriches our understanding of state anxiety by offering a sophisticated analysis of territories as ‘ontic spaces’ that give states a sense of biographical continuity, which then becomes ruptured in moments of crisis.” (Jelena Subotić, Professor of Political Science, Georgia State University, USA)“Filip Ejdus electrifies ontological security studies in this exceptional study on Serbian anxiety over Kosovo. Ejdus demonstrates through trenchant historical overview, careful discourse analysis, and astute conceptual development the sources, functions, and contemporary political consequences of Serbian insecurities. A dynamic study by a talented scholar that is required reading for those interested in identity, security, and the politics of memory.” (Brent J. Steele, the Francis D. Wormuth Presidential Chair and Professor of Political Science at the University of Utah, USA)“This important book offers an innovative perspective on the politics of ‘critical situations’ and ‘ontic spaces’, or spatial extensions of the collective self, to understand how states re-establish self-identity scripts to satisfy their ontological security needs. While there are a number of studies attempting to explain the manifestation of international crises, Ejdus uses the case of Serbia’s ontological insecurity over Kosovo to offer a very original contribution to how material environments inform public perceptions of international crises and ontological security processes in world politics.” (Catarina Kinnvall, Professor of Politics, Lund University, Sweden)  Product Description This book develops a novel way of thinking about crises in world politics. By building on ontological security theory, this work conceptualises critical situations as radical disjunctions that challenge the ability of collective agents to ‘go on’. These ontological crises bring into the realm of discursive consciousness four fundamental questions related to existence, finitude, relations and autobiography. In times of crisis, collective agents such as states are particularly attached to their ontic spaces, or spatial extensions of the self that cause collective identities to appear more firm and continuous. These theoretical arguments are illustrated in a case study looking at Serbia’s anxiety over the secession of Kosovo. The author argues that Serbia’s seemingly irrational and self-harming policy vis-à-vis Kosovo can be understood as a form of ontological self-help. It is a rational pursuit of biographical continuity and a healthy sense of self in the face of an ontological crisis triggered by the secession of a province that has been constructed as the ontic space of the Serbian nation since the late 19th century. Review “This book is essential reading for social scientists with a particular interest in Kosovo and Southeastern Europe, as well as for political scientists in international relations. It is also crucial for policy-makers … . Ejdus presents valuable insights into the Serbian politics of avoidance … . It is to be hoped that the book will also inspire international policy-makers to reflect more consciously upon their own politics of avoidance when it comes to the status of Kosovo.” (Pieter Troch, Comparative Southeast European Studies, Vol. 69 (2-3), 2021) From the Back Cover This book develops a novel way of thinking about crises in world politics. By building on ontological security theory, this work conceptualises critical situations as radical disjunctions that challenge the ability of collective agents to ‘go on’. These ontological crises bring into the realm of discursive consciousness four fundamental questions related to existence, finitude, relations and autobiography. In times of crisis, collective agents such as states are particularly attached to their ontic spaces, or spatial extensions of the self that ca