Human Security and the UN: A Critical History by S.

Neil MacFarlane; Yuen Foong Khong

Review by: G. John Ikenberry
Foreign Affairs, Vol. 85, No. 5 (Sep. - Oct., 2006), pp. 159-160
Published by: Council on Foreign Relations
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20032086 .
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 Recent Books
racist, and-in the view revived by the borders that states create are the infrastruc
economic historian Niall Ferguson-a tureof global exchange and integration.
Another theme is thatglobalizationitself
means of spreadingmodernity and civiliza
tion.Portercontends that themotives unfolds in stages: in the years afterWorld
behindBritish imperialismwere "more War II, the process was geared primarily
mixed, its spirit more ambivalent, and toward building states, whereas today it
its impact more uneven than any of the is geared toward "globalization inside of
popular versions of it-both pro and anti nationalstates."
Most interestingis the
would suggest." Vulnerability, ambivalence, observation that the current stage of
and limitations were the real hallmarks of globalizationisshiftingthelocusof author
theBritishEmpire-precisely thefeatures ity away from states to a "world of private
that Porter finds evident in the United power"thatnonetheless still operates
States' own post-World War II global throughnationalinstitutions.Underlying
involvements.In theend, he succeedsin theseobservationsis amaterialistictheory
showing the complexity of imperial power of capitalism; nationalism,democracy,and
but provides little help in understanding geopoliticsaremostly absent.
the relationshipbetweenU.S. powerand
globalgovernance. Human Security and theUN:A Critical
History. BY S. NEIL MACFARLANE
Territory,Authority, Rights: FromMedieval AND YUEN FOONG KHONG. Indiana
toGlobalAssemblages.BY SASKIA University Press, 2006, 368 pp. $85.00
SASSEN.
PrincetonUniversityPress, (paper, $35.00).
2006, 502 pp. $35.00. This latestofferingin themultivolume
Globalization is transforming the organi intellectualhistoryof theUnited Nations
zation of human activity and reshaping focuseson "humansecurity." Coined in
patterns of rights and authority. In this the early 199os, the term has been used by
ambitious book, a noted sociologist at thinkerswho have sought to shift the dis
tempts to capture the complex logic and course on security away from its traditional
consequencesof this epochalprocess. state-centered
orientationto theprotection
Sassen's focus is on the historical transitions and advancement of individuals within
thatmoved theworld from themedieval era societies. Although asmuch normativeas
to the national era and then to the global it is analytic, the concept is now integral
era, and how territoryand political commu to theway large parts of the international
nity have been organized and restructured communitythinkabout security. This
along the way. Some readerswill find the impressivestudyexploresthemeaning
book overly long and excessively abstract, and significance of the term and the ways
and, indeed,it is:theconcepts,processes, inwhich the UN and associated agencies and
variables,transitions,andorganizational expertsbrought it to life.MacFarlane
logics invokeddepict a global system and Khong provide a detailed account of
of seeminglyinfinitecomplexity. One of the individuals,
commissions,reports,and
Sassen's themes is that nation building conferences
thatlaunchedanddisseminated
and globalization are not antagonistic the idea.But the authors are equally atten
processes;the laws,propertyrights,and tivetodeepertransitionsinglobalization,

FOREIGN AFFAIRS September/October2006 [159]

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 Recent Books
state sovereignty,human rights, and George contends that scholarsdo not
collectiveviolence.Accordingly,thebook know enoughabout thedifferenttypes
can be read as a serious effort to identify of peace that can prevail between states.
theways that ideas spread and have con He distinguishesbetween "precarious
sequences.(Indeed,theauthorsfind that peace," inwhich deterrence plays the
the idea of human security has traveled dominantrole inpreventinghostilities,
widely but that its actual impact on the and "stable peace," inwhich the threat of
policies of states is limited.) It can also forcedisappears
altogether;
understanding
be read as a critique of the concept: the how statesmove from precarious to stable
authors worry that the term has been peace isone of the great unfinished research
stretched to include somuch of what agendas. George ismost fascinating in his
afflicts the human condition that it has essayon judgmentindecision-making,
lost its analytic traction.What is even inwhich he identifies atwhat moments
more troubling is that the new normative scholarlyknowledgeiscritical.The ideas
thinking about security has not been George grapples with are old, but the
matched by even a glimmer of a global insights he offers are remarkably fresh.
consensus on how to achieve it.
Unanswered Threats:Political Constraints
On Foreign Policy:UnfinishedBusiness. BY ontheBalanceofPower. RANDALL L.
ALEXANDER L. GEORGE. Paradigm, PrincetonUniversity
SCHWELLER.
2006, 144 pp. $55.00 (paper, $16.95). Press, 2006, 200 pp. $29.95.
In this tiny gem of a book, one of the great The idea that countries balance against
scholarsofU.S. foreignpolicy reflects powerfil and threatening states is perhaps
on unresolvedpuzzlesand controversies theoldest andmost celebratedinsight
encounteredover a half-century-long in the study of international relations. In
career.George iswell known for his work recent years, the puzzling absence of a
on ideologyandpresidentialdecision counterbalancingresponsetoU.S. pre
making. In these essays, he grapples with eminencehas stimulatedfreshthinking
scholarly "unfinished business" related to by scholars about the theory and practice
understandingthe interplayof interests, of the balance of power. In this ground
values, and democracy in the conduct of breakingbook, Schwellerobservesthat
foreignpolicy.One essayexploresthe history is in fact full of what he calls
sources of stable domestic support for a "underbalancing"-the failure of states
president'spolicyagenda-what George to form alliances or build arms in the face
of threateningaccumulations
calls "policy legitimacy."He argues that of power.
durabledomesticsupportrequiresthatthe Only theUnited Kingdom consistently
intellectualpremisesof foreignpolicies balanced Napoleonic France, and none
resonatewith the normative and cognitive of the other great powers balanced Nazi
expectations of the public. Franklin Germany in the 1930s, at least not with any
Roosevelt's evolvingplans forpostwar senseof urgency.Schweller'sexplanation
peace and Richard Nixon's detente are for this focuses on the complex dynamics
offered as cases that show the constraining of domestic politics: balancing may be a
effects of policy legitimacy. In another essay, rational strategy,but states only infrequently

[16o] FOREIGN AFFAIRS- Volume8sNo.s

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