Global Security

Approaches and Theories

Lecture Prepared for PGDIR

Dr. A.S.M. Ali Ashraf

Associate Professor
Department of International Relations
University of Dhaka
Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh

Email: aliashraf79@gmail.com

Fri, October 24, 2014

Lecture Outline
 Security Studies
 Different meanings
 Deepening and Broadening
 Evolution of security studies

 Major Theories of Security Studies

 Realism
 Liberalism
 Constructivism
 Critical Theory
 Feminist Theory

 Human Security as an alternative Paradigm

 Narrow and Broad School of Human Security
2
Approaches to Security
Studies
 Realism:
 Power politics
 Liberalism:
 Domestic politics & International Institutions
 Peace Studies:
 Opposition to nuclear weapons, environmental degradation, poverty
 Critical Security Studies:
 Human emancipation, not state control
 Gender Studies:
 Women as the referent object
 Human Security:
 Human-centric (as opposed to state-centric) security, linkage with development
 Securitization
 How the political elite articulates an issue as a security issue
 Historical Materialism
 Insecurity as a result of capitalist exploitation 3
Deepening & Broadening
Security
 Military Security:
 War, alliance, deterrence, arms control
 Regime Security:
 Weak states, failed states
 Societal Security:
 Ethnicity, social identity
 Environmental Security:
 Global warming, sea level rise, changing role of armed forces
 Economic Security:
 Supply, Market access, Finance-credit, Industry
 Globalization, Development and Security:
 Market integration, top-down and bottom-up approaches to
development
4
 Let us have a look at some of the major
events in world politics?

5
Arms Control &
Disarmament Success?

6
Regime Security
under Threat?

7
Ethnic Conflict in Rwanda

8
Global Warming!

9
Global Economic Recession

10
Globalization

11
Traditional vs Non-Traditional
Security Issues
 Coercive diplomacy
 Intelligence
 Weapons of Mass Destruction
 Terrorism
 Humanitarian Intervention
 Energy Security
 Defence Trade
 Health and Security
 Transnational Organized Crime
 Child Soldier

12
 Evolution of security studies

13
Evolution of Security
Studies
 Security Studies (SS): “the study of the nature,
causes, effects, and prevention of war” (Baldwin
1996: 119)
 Evolution of security studies (SS):
 Interwar period (1919-1939)
 First post-war decade (1945-1955)
 Second post-war decade (1955-1965): ‘Golden Age’ of SS
 Third post-war period (1965-1980): ‘Decline’ of SS
 The Fourth post-war period (1980-1990): ‘Renaissance’ of SS

………………………………………………………………………………………………….
 The post-Cold War period (1990-2000)
 The post-9/11 period (2001-present)

14
 Inter-War period (1919-1939)
 Emphasis on international law and organization
 Democracy, international arbitration, national self-determination,
disarmament, and collective security
 Less emphasis on the use of military forces as an instrument of
statecraft

First Post-War Decade (1945-1955)

 National security became a central feature of international
relations
 Civilian intellectuals and their growing interests, university-based
research centers, journals promoting security studies
 Chicago, Columbia, Princeton, Yale played critical role

15
 Second Post-War Decade (1955-1965)
 ‘Golden age’ of security studies
 Key issues: Nuclear armaments, deterrence, arms race,
disarmament, limited war; Nuclear weapons as an instrument of
national security and foreign policy
 Deterrence theory: ‘one of the most impressive intellectual
achievements in the history of the study of international relations’
(Baldwin 1996: 123)
 Focus on force projections, and threat manipulation

 The Third Post-War Period (1965-1980)

 Decline in interest in traditional security
 Vietnam war, interest in peace studies
 Key issues: Peasants movements in Asia, counterrevolutionary
war, Third World Poverty, Economic interdependence 16
 The fourth post-War period (1980-1990)
 Renaissance in security studies, brought by the new cold war
 Security studies equated with strategic studies in the United States
 Militarization of American security policy

The post-Cold War Era (1990-2000)

 Debate about the relevance of security studies
 Security as a goal and means
 Relations between domestic affairs and national security
 Non-military and non-traditional sources of security and their
importance: environment, public health, education, poverty etc.
 Traditionalists’ insistence on the primacy of national security over
other state concerns

17
  Post-9/11 Era

 Global War on Terrorism

 Emergence of ‘Terrorism Studies’ as another sub-discipline of
Security Studies?
 Asymmetric war, irregular warfare, insurgency
 Renewed debate on the utility of military force in the conduct of
foreign and security policy
 ‘Non-traditional security’ and ‘human security’ emerged as an
important paradigm, challenging the ‘traditional’ or ‘military’
security paradigm in the study of International Relations

18
 Major Theories of Security Studies

19
I. Political Realism

20
Core assumptions of Realism
 Centrality of States:
 State is the main actor in international politics
 States always seek to maximize their power and attain their national
interest
 Human Nature:
 Human nature is inherently selfish, destructive, competitive and
aggressive
 Realism proposes the use of strategy to minimize the risks of war and
violence
 Anarchy and Power:
 Conflict and war are inevitable in the international system
 Absence of a supranational authority in the international system;
states rely on the ‘self-help’ approach to promote their interests
 International Law, Morality, and Institutions:
 International law and morality cannot significantly constrain state
behavior
 International institutions work best when they serve the interest of 21
member states (who create those institutions and shape their works)
Problems with Realist
analysis
 Failure to predict and analyze the end of Cold War:
 The collapse of Soviet Union and the demise of the Cold War have not
resulted from systemic pressures, but internal factors, including
economic-political reforms
 Neglect for Internal Security
 The norm of sovereignty is well established, and military conquest of
small states have become rare; Instead most security threats now
arise from domestic sources, such as, ethnic conflict, sectarian
violence, and civil wars etc
 Unchallenged U.S. hegemony
 Contrary to realist predictions, U.S. hegemony has largely remained
unchallenged; EU, China, Japan, and Russia do not pose any major
security threat to U.S. interests
 Greater regional cooperation a the EU
 The absence of Soviet threat has not resulted in the dissolution of the
EU; instead, the EU integration has deepened and broadened
22
II. Liberal Internationalism

23
Core assumptions of Liberal Theories
[from Jackson and Sorensen (2007: 98-126)]

 Sociological Liberalism:
 Transnational relations, networks of individuals and interest
groups will lead to peace and stability

 Interdependence Liberalism:
 “Spill over” effects of economic cooperation and
interdependence; European integration

 Institutional Liberalism:
 Rule-based cooperation, or ‘regimes’, organizations, and
international norms shape states’ foreign and security policy,
and promote peace; United Nations, NATO, EU, ASEAN

 Republican Liberalism:
 Democracies are committed to economic cooperation and
peaceful resolution of disputes
24
Post-Cold War Era: A Liberalist
Age?
 Expanding commitment to democracy and capitalism

 Democratic ideals and beliefs now dominate the foreign and

security policy of the world’s most powerful states—the U.S.,
EU Member States, and Japan

 Commitment to intervene in failed states and conflict zones

through efforts at peace building and peace keeping.

 Nation-building has now become synonymous with peace

building; Nation building now includes creating effective
institutions, such as rule of law, effective police and military
forces under strict civilian control, and the provisions of
education, healthcare, and free market economy

25
Two problems with
Liberalism
 Relative importance of various goals:
 Afghanistan: Democracy first or economic development
first?
 North Korea: Engagement or Containment?
 Iraq: National self-determination (for the Kurds) versus
viable state creation?

 Justifying when to use force:

 Case study: Iraq invasion (2003)
 When to use force?
 How to legitimize use of force?
 Should serious disagreements among major powers
suspend the option of use of force?
26
III. Social Constructivism

27
Core assumptions of
Constructivism
 Constructivism offers a broader and more sophisticated conception of
security, when compared with realism and critical theory
 Security is a social construction; there are multiple, competing
meanings of it
 Non-material or ideational factors influence the way we securitize
 The questions of what security is, who need to be secured, and what
core values be the object of security are not resolved; instead, they
are constantly negotiated in a particular historical and social context
 Constructivists discard the abstract and universal way of theorizing
 They argue that different understanding of identity shape the meaning
of ‘security’, ‘threat’, and insecurity
 Example: the perception of Saddam Hussein as a threat to the USA prior to
the 2003 invasion
 After identity, norms also play an important role in explaining
international politics
 Example: The norms of sovereignty, non-use of nuclear weapons

28
IV. Critical Theory

29
Traditional Theory vs. Critical Theory: Key
Differences
Traditional Theory
1. Problem-solving theory
2. Positivist Methodology and its key
assumptions:
•Facts and values can be separated
•The subject can be separated from the
object
3. Support for prevailing social
structures:
•Traditional theorists, such as the neo-
realists, take the international system as
it is, and want to preserve the status
quo by dealing with the sources of
problems in the system
•Neo-liberal international theorists also
seek to stabilize the state system, and
the capitalist world economy
Critical Theory
1. Reflexive theory
2. Normative Approach
•Cognitive processes are influenced by
power and interests, and hence the
connections among them be evaluated
3. Rejecting the prevailing int’l order:
•Critical theorists take the existing
power structure as an object, and seeks
to examine how it influences knowledge
•Critical theorists challenge the
dogmatism of traditional mode of
theorizing, such as, neo-realism, and
neo-liberal internationalism
•Critical theory-driven knowledge is not
apolitical; it wishes to change the
existing social order
 Critical theory as an emancipatory theory:
 Emancipation has a negative connotation here; it implies
freeing from various forms of constraints
 Critical theory thinks about a global community, and wishes to
move beyond the state-level analysis
 Immanuel Kant and Karl Marx dreamt about a universal
society of free individuals

 Rethinking Political Community

 Critical theorists problematize the notion of state as a natural
form of political community
 They emphasize on certain universal rights for the human
community; and reject the particularistic notion of rights
Constructivism and Critical
Theory: Major Criticisms
 Too much philosophical and abstract

 Cannot explain the effect of material power on

foreign and security policy of states

 Too much emphasis on ideational factor and

methodological debates

32
V. Feminism

33
Varieties of Feminism
 Liberal Feminism:
 Emphases on equality, and women’s representation within the
public sphere
 Equal opportunity in workplaces and political sphere
 Radical Feminism:
 Patriarchal society promotes inequality between men and
women; Women’s lives are controlled through domestic violence,
reproductive decisions, and controlling women’s sexuality
 Women’s participation should be ensured not because of
equality, but because of the different perspective women can
bring into the domestic and international policy making
 Critical Feminism:
 Gender differences concern the real, material, and lived
conditions of women and men in particular times and spaces

34
 Postmodern Feminism:
 Emphasizes the need to deconstruct, unravel, and reject
prevailing wisdom
 Rejects universal truth, and proposes particularity of gender
and security
 Any truth claim is an assertion of power that silences
alternative notions and theorizing
 Postcolonial Feminism:
 Criticizes colonialism, and imperialism, and the first world
feminism
 Unpacks the universal definitions of women and their
experiences

35
Critique of Feminism
 Feminists are divided into competing theoretical
camps

 Feminist theory offer little insights into the

hawkish/tough foreign policies of iron ladies, e.g.
Margaret Thatcher or Indira Gandhi

 Despite such critics, gender sensitivity is useful in

the study of security studies

36
  Human Security
as an alternative paradigm

37
Components of Human
Security
 Economic Security: An assured basic income from a
productive and safe work; Rising unemployment is a
concern.

 Food Security: Physical and economic access to food is a

basic requirement for people; Starvation is a big concern.

 Health Security: The spread of infectious and parasitic

diseases, respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases,
tuberculosis, and cancer are the major killers in many
countries. Access to health care services is a basic need.

 Environmental Security: Environmental degradation,

such as, global warming, sea level rise, loss of bio diversity,
floods, and droughts etc create natural humanitarian
disasters
38
 Personal Security: Physical torture, war, ethnic tension,
organized crime, child abuse, and rape etc constitute
threats to personal security

 Community Security: Preservation of cultural identity of

traditional and indigenous societies is an important
concern. At the same time traditional practices, such as,
female genital mutilation in Africa poses a major public
health crisis for girls.

 Political Security: Security from state repression, and

human rights violation by state and non-state actors.
Freedom of speech is a key component of democracy.

39
Key assumptions of Human
Security
 People-centered: It is concerned about the safety and
security of people
 Easier to ensure through early prevention: For example,
investment in family planning and sexual education can
help contain the spread of HIV/AIDs
 Threats are interdependent: Human security threats around
the world are not isolated, but interdependent. For
instance, the incidence of famine, disease, pollution, drug
trafficking, terrorism, ethnic conflicts, etc in one country
would inevitably affect its neighboring country
 Universal concern: Human Security threats are universal in
nature, they are very common across countries. For
example: the problems of human rights violation, pollution
etc.

40
Two approaches to Human
Security
Narrow Approach Broad Approach

Proponent Human Security Centre UNDP

(University of British
Columbia)

Major focus Protection of Protection of individuals

individuals from from both violent and
violent threats, such non-violent threats.
as, war, genocides, and Non-violent threats, such
terrorism as, hunger, disease,
malnutrition, and natural
disasters

Data Source Human Security Report UNDP Human Development

Report
Policy utility High Low
41
 Questions?

 Comments?

42