The Power Politics of Identity

Abstract

International Relations scholars often treat international order as a byproduct of threats of military violence. Recent scholarship, however, has focused attention on security communities — nonviolent international orders that develop as a by-product of interstate collective identity. Yet it is unclear how these regimes could work during crises when collective identity is disrupted. This article argues that during such periods member states can use representational force, a form of power exercised through language, to stabilize their collective identity. Through an analysis of the Anglo-American security community during the 1956 Suez Crisis I demonstrate how both states relied on nonphysical but forceful expressions of power to `fasten' their identity against the disintegrating effects of their dispute. One effect was to stabilize the security community and preserve nonviolent order. While this illuminates one process by which security communities can weather crises, it also highlights that getting beyond guns does not necessarily mean getting beyond force.

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