Risk and Hyperconnectivity ─ Media and Memories of Neoliberalism

Risk and Hyperconnectivity looks at the ways in which connectivity, as it draws us closer to other people and events across time and space, is a new driver of contemporary political risk and uncertainty. Andrew Hoskins and John Tulloch argue that connectivity is both a conduit of risk and a form of risk in itself, and that it alters the ways in which we experience events and remember them. They suggest that as greater connectivity draws us "closer" to world crises and catastrophes we experience increased feelings of uncertainty and insecurity and that the types of abstract and large-scale risks that connectivity produces (global financial crises, cyber warfare) render risk increasingly intangible. Both of these problems are underscored by the absence of historical certainty about new forms of risk. Hoskins and Tulloch draw on theories of risk, neoliberalism, and memory studies to describe how connectivity produces new forms of uncertainty, and they consider several recent events that can be defined as conflicts and catastrophes, including the 2008 financial crisis, the 2009 G20 protest movements, and the 2011 English riots, as well as the threat of cyber warfare.

Andrew Hoskins is Interdisciplinary Research Professor in Global Security and Director of the Adam Smith Research Foundation at the University of Glasgow.

John Tulloch is Professor Emeritus in Communication at Charles Sturt University and Adjunct Professor at the University of Newcastle, Australia.