The Security Principle

“Frédéric Gros’s genealogy of security is an outstanding study in political thought. The Security Principle covers a lot of ground, from Ancient Greece to contemporary biopolitics, illuminating key transformations in the meaning of the concept of security. Written in a lucid and accessible way, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in how we have come to be so insecure about security.”
—Sergei Prozorov, author of The Biopolitics of Stalinism

“In this veritable tour de force, Gros offers an erudite and engaging journey in the history of Western philosophy. He shows how different meanings of security have been sedimented, layer by layer, across thinkers and traditions and the ways in which these meanings are reconfigured in our present. Ultimately, Gros alerts us to the silent siren of security that dangerously allures us while it muffles the promise of politics: the possibility and the hope of changing the world.”
—Banu Bargu, author of Starve and Immolate