Description
What is the ontological foundation of ontological security? Despite the significant proliferation of research on ontological security in International Relations (IR) in recent years, there is a prevailing theoretical notion that the concept implies agents pursuing both physical security and a secure sense of self. However, a critical concern arises as the literature tends to conflate the self with identity, thereby reducing the meaning of ontological security to mere identity preservation. Identity functions as a rhetorical commonplace that reinforces the perception that identity plays a crucial role in the logical system of the modern international order, suggesting what we could call an essentialist ontology (essence) of identity. In this paper, we propose an alternative to the confinement of the self within an ontology of identity/essence: a deleuzian ontology understood as an ontology of sense (sens). Following this line of thought, we advocate for a shift from representation to production as we question what is gained and missed analytically by labelling any experience and any bond as an identity. Furthermore, we explore the significance of rethinking identity within a new immanent ontology.
