The Power to Count and the Stakes of Counting: An Inquiry into the Quantified Production of Humanitarian Insecurity
Résumé
Conflict, crime, development, security, human rights, and democracy, to name a few, are all examples of subjects that have been delimited and constructed in the form of databases and sets of quantitative indicators. While the state had traditionally held the exclusive monopoly of quantified production, today many actors participate in its fabrication and circulation, sometimes even working on the same theme. Taking the example of humanitarian security, this article argues for the need to investigate the factors that structure a researcher and a research center's choice to develop new areas of quantitative research. Giving an account of who has the power to count and calling into question the disinterested production of data, this article also points to the wider power effects of transforming insecurity into quantified measures.