7 - Mixing Ordering Forms

Summary

Chapter 7 analyses how actors frequently mix forms of ordering within their actions and by collaborating with other actors. Mixing ordering can bridge the difference between centre and periphery as well as inner and outer circle by using appropriate forms for each – centres and inner circles lend themselves more to stable and peripheries and outer circles to fluid ordering. Actors also collaborate or compete among each other based on their different forms of ordering. When actors see the use of other forms of ordering than their own as threatening, security quickly deteriorates, while security improvements can be achieved through collaboration of differently ordering actors. Security is thus not the outcome of one form of ordering but of the complementarity of ordering within the security arena.