ABSTRACT
This chapter indicates that ontological security offers something beyond the broader range of critical approaches to security. It argues that ethical judgements of particular ontological security-seeking practices will depend on the nature of subjectivity they individually support. The chapter begins by expanding on the concept of ontological security, before noting a number of its potentially ethically progressive attributes and possibilities. As Marlow and Krolikowski have noted, states are particularly notable in this respect; aside from providing for the welfare and physical security of their citizens, they are also important in contributing to their ontological security. The link between ontological security and conflict has been well established in the ontological security literature in IR. Mlksoo has highlighted this point well in respect of the various memory conflicts taking place between states in Europe today for instance, in respect of different nations' roles in the Second World War or with regard to the Holocaust or experiences under the Soviet Union.
