ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Roland Bleiker reflects on the journey that has led from the aesthetic turn in international relations to the present situation, where the increasing speed of visual imagery and the democratisation of visual (security) politics make visual security studies a crucial subfield of security studies. Reflecting on the current state of visual security studies, Bleiker identifies two challenges that are particularly important in continuing to develop the visual security research agenda. The first is the images-emotions-security nexus and the need to better understand the role played by emotions in visual security. Second, visual security studies need to keep pursuing experimental research that, as pioneered in the visual security studies collection, use visual methods while retaining the ability to communicate in accessible and compelling ways.
