Pursuing the unattainable: rethinking threat constructions from a lacanian perspective

Abstract

This present work has as objective to analyze the relations between the lacanian concept of fantasy and the construction of threats. The central idea is to think how some fantasies of security sustain the effectivity of what we understand as the Philippine narco-necropolitics. We understand the concept of fantasy as a narrative imbued with desire through which the subjects make sense of the world. This way, we argue that, in the field of security, fantasy is a mechanism for the production of reality that mobilizes an unattainable desire for security and promises not only a simplified solution of contradictions but also ends up legitimizing the classification of others as threats and the deployment of violence and necropolitics by the State against those bodies. This work is motivated by the theoretical efforts in psychoanalytical theory inside International Relations, also engaging with authors from other backgrounds that realize similar analysis with these same concepts. We hope that this article challenges some established concepts in International Relations theory, specifically in security studies, and show the importance of fantasy as an interesting category of analysis for understanding international politics.