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IRO ‘23: Global Security - Lecture Notes
Lecture 1: What is Global Security?
Key Concepts: security; referent object; deterrence
1. Defining Security
Wolfers, 1962: Security, in an objective sense, measures the absence of threats to acquired
values. In a subjective sense, measures the absence of fear that such values will be
attacked.
● Broad, designed to cover many areas: different states place more/less value on
certain aspects of security.
Security: A ‘Contested Concept’ → creates disputes about proper use.
● What values need protection?
● What counts as a threat to these values?
● Is security absolute?
Narrow vs Broad definitions?
● “Survival” = freedom from life-determining threats.
● Or, “survival-plus” = freedom to have life choices.
Meaning defined by whom? (generals, diplomats, activists, academics, policymakers?) →
can also become politicised; it matters to know how people use the term.
The Referent Object
What is it that needs to be made secure?
● State, national interest (typically)?
● Individuals, ethnic groups, society as a whole, the environment, the planet?
→ These all are not necessarily independent of one another; i.e. hard to think of a
country preserving national interest without safety for their society.
Key Dimensions of Security (Buzan, 1991)
● MIlitary – offensive & defensive capabilities and consequences.
● Political – state stability, system of government.
● Economic – resources and welfare.
, 2
● Social sustainability – maintenance of traditions and customs.
● Environmental sustainability – maintenance of the local and planetary biosphere.
Issues & Threats
In perceptions of security, there is a way that we have our views of priorities, but they are
socially constructed phenomena that evolve with time and ongoing discussions.
As of 2023
● Increasing perceptions of political polarisation within countries.
● Increasing perceptions of threats to democracy, within countries and internationally.
A Matrix of Security Studies (Paris 2001)
2. How Can Security Be Achieved?
“The search for perfect security … defeats its own ends. Playing for safety is the most
dangerous way to live.”
3. Security Studies as a Field of Inquiry?
The Golden Age – 1950-1960
First and Second World Wars
● Civilian contributions to the study of strategy.
● Long-term strategy to avoid war.
The national interest
● Security rather than welfare
, 3
The nuclear revolution
● Seminal research on deterrence, containment, coercion, escalation, arms control.
● Belief in deductive, rational thinking.
The End of the Golden Age – 1960-1970
Limits to traditional approaches
● Not applicable to the peasant war in Vietnam.
● Limited view of politics (only military balances, not beliefs and perceptions).
● Assumes perfect information and constant ability to rationally calculate.
Public disinterest in “national security”
● Critique of the Vietnam War made security studies an unfashionable subject at
universities.
→ Focus on international political economy
The Renaissance of Security Studies – 1970-1990
New data
● More systematic use of historical analysis; more access to archives.
New methods
● Structured-focused case comparisons; more diverse social scientific approaches to
explain historic events.
New realities
● End of Cold War détente; Iranian and Nicaraguan revolution; Soviet interventions in
African states and Afghanistan.
Changes Due to the End of the Cold War?
In the character of warfare
● For civil wars, “new wars”:
- Civilians as targets (as opposed to well-ordered battles between soldiers in
uniforms);
- Criminalisation of violence (as opposed to state-building enterprises;
- Identity-based wars (as opposed to forward-looking transformative ideological
agendas).
● For international wars: Hybrid wars? Grey-zone warfare?
→ There are strong disagreements among researchers about whether there have in fact
been changes.
, 4
Changes After the September 11th 2001 Attacks?
● The “Global War on Terror”.
● Greater international interventionism?
● Conflicts are more complex, multi-layered?
● Growth in multi-party conflicts?
● Possible challenges to the post-Cold War unipolar balance of power?
Approaches Can Shape What We Pay Attention To
Problem-Solving vs Critical Theory
Problem-solving theory
● “Takes the world as it finds it, the prevailing social and power relationships and the
institutions into which they are organised as the given framework for action.”
Critical theory
● “Does not take institutions and social and power relations for granted but calls them
into question (...) Critical theory is directed to the social and political complex as a
whole rather than to the separate parts.”
IRO ‘23: Global Security - Lecture Notes
Lecture 1: What is Global Security?
Key Concepts: security; referent object; deterrence
1. Defining Security
Wolfers, 1962: Security, in an objective sense, measures the absence of threats to acquired
values. In a subjective sense, measures the absence of fear that such values will be
attacked.
● Broad, designed to cover many areas: different states place more/less value on
certain aspects of security.
Security: A ‘Contested Concept’ → creates disputes about proper use.
● What values need protection?
● What counts as a threat to these values?
● Is security absolute?
Narrow vs Broad definitions?
● “Survival” = freedom from life-determining threats.
● Or, “survival-plus” = freedom to have life choices.
Meaning defined by whom? (generals, diplomats, activists, academics, policymakers?) →
can also become politicised; it matters to know how people use the term.
The Referent Object
What is it that needs to be made secure?
● State, national interest (typically)?
● Individuals, ethnic groups, society as a whole, the environment, the planet?
→ These all are not necessarily independent of one another; i.e. hard to think of a
country preserving national interest without safety for their society.
Key Dimensions of Security (Buzan, 1991)
● MIlitary – offensive & defensive capabilities and consequences.
● Political – state stability, system of government.
● Economic – resources and welfare.
, 2
● Social sustainability – maintenance of traditions and customs.
● Environmental sustainability – maintenance of the local and planetary biosphere.
Issues & Threats
In perceptions of security, there is a way that we have our views of priorities, but they are
socially constructed phenomena that evolve with time and ongoing discussions.
As of 2023
● Increasing perceptions of political polarisation within countries.
● Increasing perceptions of threats to democracy, within countries and internationally.
A Matrix of Security Studies (Paris 2001)
2. How Can Security Be Achieved?
“The search for perfect security … defeats its own ends. Playing for safety is the most
dangerous way to live.”
3. Security Studies as a Field of Inquiry?
The Golden Age – 1950-1960
First and Second World Wars
● Civilian contributions to the study of strategy.
● Long-term strategy to avoid war.
The national interest
● Security rather than welfare
, 3
The nuclear revolution
● Seminal research on deterrence, containment, coercion, escalation, arms control.
● Belief in deductive, rational thinking.
The End of the Golden Age – 1960-1970
Limits to traditional approaches
● Not applicable to the peasant war in Vietnam.
● Limited view of politics (only military balances, not beliefs and perceptions).
● Assumes perfect information and constant ability to rationally calculate.
Public disinterest in “national security”
● Critique of the Vietnam War made security studies an unfashionable subject at
universities.
→ Focus on international political economy
The Renaissance of Security Studies – 1970-1990
New data
● More systematic use of historical analysis; more access to archives.
New methods
● Structured-focused case comparisons; more diverse social scientific approaches to
explain historic events.
New realities
● End of Cold War détente; Iranian and Nicaraguan revolution; Soviet interventions in
African states and Afghanistan.
Changes Due to the End of the Cold War?
In the character of warfare
● For civil wars, “new wars”:
- Civilians as targets (as opposed to well-ordered battles between soldiers in
uniforms);
- Criminalisation of violence (as opposed to state-building enterprises;
- Identity-based wars (as opposed to forward-looking transformative ideological
agendas).
● For international wars: Hybrid wars? Grey-zone warfare?
→ There are strong disagreements among researchers about whether there have in fact
been changes.
, 4
Changes After the September 11th 2001 Attacks?
● The “Global War on Terror”.
● Greater international interventionism?
● Conflicts are more complex, multi-layered?
● Growth in multi-party conflicts?
● Possible challenges to the post-Cold War unipolar balance of power?
Approaches Can Shape What We Pay Attention To
Problem-Solving vs Critical Theory
Problem-solving theory
● “Takes the world as it finds it, the prevailing social and power relationships and the
institutions into which they are organised as the given framework for action.”
Critical theory
● “Does not take institutions and social and power relations for granted but calls them
into question (...) Critical theory is directed to the social and political complex as a
whole rather than to the separate parts.”
