Titolo completo

Space, Security and Sovereign Power: The Case of Bahrain

Following the outbreak of protests across Bahrain in 2011, the ruling Al Khalifa family deployed a range of strategies to secure its survival. At the core of such strategies was the securitisation of protest and the construction of threats predicated on geopolitically charged sectarian affinity. While much has been written on the securitisation and sectarianisation of Bahrain’s Shi’a community, particular attention is paid here to the spatial dimensions of securitisation, focussing on the physical and social spaces in Bahrain and its diaspora, including checkpoints, restrictions on religious ceremonies and the extra-territorial dimensions of securitisation processes beyond the state. By combining securitisation theory with the work of Giorgio Agamben, securitisation is analysed as a key feature of sovereign power, enabling a more nuanced reading of the ways in which space is regulated. This contributes to a growing trend of scholarship that looks at the political-theological interplay within securitisation studies, highlighting the role of space in such processes.
Keywords: Bahrain; space; securitisation; checkpoints; sectarianism