Study title

The project 'Enemy Addiction' has created approximately 30.000 photos and photocopies of archival document pages. These consist primarily of security speech drafts, such as the security sections of State of the Union and Inaugural addresses as well as other key security speeches. In addition, the collection contains related communication such as memoranda from the President to speechwriters of the input of different departments, exchanges between speechwriters, and the input of the National Security Council on the speech writing process.

Perceptions of insecurity are a key source of violent conflict and international instability. Through the lens of policy language, this project examines how perceptions of insecurity are created and maintained, and how depictions of enmity foster public acceptance of threat scenarios and security policy agendas. Specifically, the project investigates the US preoccupation with security threats after the Cold War and how the redefinition of the post-Cold War landscape as dangerous and uncertain has locked the US into perpetuating high-cost security practices - even in times of severe economic crisis. The project employs a novel multidisciplinary mixed-methods research design that helps to link security discourse to policy formulation, political strategy, and security policy consequences. The project casts new light on persistent and timely concerns in international security, such as the extent to which security policy is a reaction to 'objective' changes in the international structure, the role played by policy language in marginalizing political resistance, and how 'speaking' international security differently changes security policy practices.