Invisible enemies, wars without winners: when 'khaki elections' fail.

Morrison, James

Abstract

This article argues that, in the aftermath of the Manchester and London terror attacks, a concerted attempt was made by Theresa May and her senior ministers to re-frame the coming contest as a 'khaki election', which conflated ongoing concerns about security with a wider, more militarised, conception of law and order. It argues that this project was ultimately doomed to failure, not least because, unlike in previous khaki elections, the opposing force was an invisible 'enemy within' which was impossible to defeat in any meaningful sense.

Citation

MORRISON, J. 2017. Invisible enemies, wars without winners: when 'khaki elections' fail. In Thorsen, E., Jackson, D. and Lilleker, D. (eds.) UK election analysis 2017: media, voters and the campaign; early reflections from leading academics. Poole: Bournemouth University Centre for the study of journalism, culture and community [online], page 86. Available from: http://bit.ly/UKElectionAnalysis2017_Thorsen-Jackson-and-Lilleker_v1

• Online Publication Date: Jun 19, 2017
• Publication Date: Jun 30, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jul 25, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 25, 2017
• Publisher: Bournemouth University. Centre for the Study of Journalism, Culture and Community
• Pages: 86
• Book Title: UK election analysis 2017: media, voters and the campaign; early reflections from leading academics
• ISBN: 9781910042151
• Keywords: Khaki elections; Security; War on Terror; General election; Law and order; Moral panic
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/2418
• Publisher URL: http://bit.ly/UKElectionAnalysis2017_Thorsen-Jackson-and-Lilleker_v1 ; http://www.electionanalysis.uk/uk-election-analysis-2017/section-4-parties-and-the-campaign/invisible-enemies-wars-without-winners-when-khaki-elections-fail/