Ontological (in)security after truth: Disinformation as affective technology

The significance of this article lies in its reconceptualisation of disinformation as not only a challenge to truth but an affective force that can be examined through ontological (in)security. While media and communication studies increasingly recognise the affective dimensions of disinformation, Ontological Security Studies (OSS) in International Relations (IR) has yet to theorise its interaction with existential anxiety – the field’s foundational concept. Addressing this gap, the article advances the argument that disinformation functions as an affective technology: an apparatus that channels existential anxiety into the symbolic realm through emotional representations. Drawing on affect theory, communication studies, and Lacanian psychoanalysis, it demonstrates that emotions are operational mechanisms through which disinformation promises subjects enjoyment (jouissance), thereby sustaining fantasies of complete ‘Self’. This conceptual innovation extends OSS beyond cognitive and identity-stability models, offering a dynamic account of how Lacanian fantasy narratives – despite their inaccuracies – produce coherence and agency in times of uncertainty. By revising the psychoanalytical strand of OSS, the article underscores the role of emotions in the politics of (in)security and calls for OSS frameworks that take affective dynamics seriously in an era defined by disinformation. The interdisciplinary novel framework is illustrated through the disinformative ‘Great Replacement Theory’.