Individual Paper assignment
From anxiety to fear: An ontological insecurity casus on
the Manifesto The Great Replacement
S3340724
Security Challenges in a Globalizing World
Number of words: 2775
Master Crisis and Security Management 2025-2026
Leiden University
Dr. Jelle van Buuren
October 26th, 2025
Introduction
, This paper examines whether and how major societal transformations, such as globalization,
demographic shifts and the digital battle for truth, shape an individual’s sense of ontological
(in)security. This is based on the Christchurch perpetrator’s manifesto, The Great
Replacement. This paper explores ontological (in)security as an analytical lens to reconstruct
how narratives, identity anchors and routines stabilize or disrupt the self-narrative (Kinnvall,
2004, pp. 745-746). The goal is not to explain or justify the attack, but to understand societal
dynamics that undermine or restore feelings of order, continuity and ‘home’. At the same
time, a critical stance toward the pursuit of conclusive identities is adopted. This pursuit itself
can lead to exclusion and depoliticization (Rossdale, 2015, pp. 369-373, 383).
This paper will try to answer the following research question: ‘How does the manifesto ‘The
Great Replacement’ demonstrate that ontological (in)security is constructed at the
intersection of global transformations, national frames and individual routines/home, and
how does this emotional order subsequently legitimize specific securitizing remedies?’
The paper will first start with a literature review that discusses the changing concepts of
security and the assumption that security is not a fixed given, but a practice that is politically
performed, socially ordered and mentally experienced. Each of these dimensions has its own
mechanism and consequence for who is considered ‘us’ or ‘other’, what counts as ‘danger’
and how individuals experience security. Following with a summarization of the core of
ontological insecurity and elaborating on the interaction between the global, national and
individual level. Afterwards, the next section applies this framework to The Great
Replacement. Finally, the last section summarizes the findings and argues for the explanatory
power of ontological (in)security, while reflecting on the literature.
Changing conceptions of security – a literature review
From anxiety to fear: An ontological insecurity casus on
the Manifesto The Great Replacement
S3340724
Security Challenges in a Globalizing World
Number of words: 2775
Master Crisis and Security Management 2025-2026
Leiden University
Dr. Jelle van Buuren
October 26th, 2025
Introduction
, This paper examines whether and how major societal transformations, such as globalization,
demographic shifts and the digital battle for truth, shape an individual’s sense of ontological
(in)security. This is based on the Christchurch perpetrator’s manifesto, The Great
Replacement. This paper explores ontological (in)security as an analytical lens to reconstruct
how narratives, identity anchors and routines stabilize or disrupt the self-narrative (Kinnvall,
2004, pp. 745-746). The goal is not to explain or justify the attack, but to understand societal
dynamics that undermine or restore feelings of order, continuity and ‘home’. At the same
time, a critical stance toward the pursuit of conclusive identities is adopted. This pursuit itself
can lead to exclusion and depoliticization (Rossdale, 2015, pp. 369-373, 383).
This paper will try to answer the following research question: ‘How does the manifesto ‘The
Great Replacement’ demonstrate that ontological (in)security is constructed at the
intersection of global transformations, national frames and individual routines/home, and
how does this emotional order subsequently legitimize specific securitizing remedies?’
The paper will first start with a literature review that discusses the changing concepts of
security and the assumption that security is not a fixed given, but a practice that is politically
performed, socially ordered and mentally experienced. Each of these dimensions has its own
mechanism and consequence for who is considered ‘us’ or ‘other’, what counts as ‘danger’
and how individuals experience security. Following with a summarization of the core of
ontological insecurity and elaborating on the interaction between the global, national and
individual level. Afterwards, the next section applies this framework to The Great
Replacement. Finally, the last section summarizes the findings and argues for the explanatory
power of ontological (in)security, while reflecting on the literature.
Changing conceptions of security – a literature review
