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ALL Global Security Lecture Notes
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1: Introduction09 January 2021 17:21
- [T] “An Introduction to Security Studies”, in Williams & McDonald, Introduction to Security
Studies, 1-14.
- [B] Waever, Ole, and Barry Buzan. 2016. “After the return to theory. The past, present and
future of security studies,” in Collins, Alan, Contemporary Security Studies. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 417-435.
Global Security is a wide concept: military security. Migration, refugees, climate change and
wildfires etc. Etc.
What is global security?
The existence of threats to acquired values?
--> Contested concept: Which values need protection? What counts as a threat? Is security
absolute? (can we be totally safe against threats?)
Booth (1991) Security as the absence of threats, and emancipation as the freeing of people from
those physical and human constraints which stop them from carrying out what they would
freely choose to do
--> security and emancipation as two sides of the same coin, not power or order produces
true security. ''Survival Plus'', not only safe but also good living conditions
Walt (1991) Security studies as the study of the threat, use, and control of military force -->
classical view, state-centric
Buzan (1991) Security is a powerful political tool in claiming attention for priority items in the
competition for government attention
Whose security are we talking about?
The referent object:
- What is it that needs to be made secure?
- State, national interest
- Individual, ethnic group, society as a whole, the environment, the planet
- Not independent of each other
What counts as a security issue?
Perception of threats differ among people and states
Traditionally, preference given to external rather than internal threats --> but end of Cold War
and globalization questioned the preference for external threats
Traditionally, focus on extreme threats and measures --> but diversity of approaches in security
studies criticized realist approach to the study of security
Buzan (1991) types of security threats:
➢ Military offensive/defensive
➢ Political stability of states
➢ Economic resources and welfare
➢ Sustainability of societal traditions and customs
➢ Maintenance of the local and planetary biosphere
Global Security Page 1
,How can security be achieved?
No such thing as 'absolute security'?
How much liberty/justice/freedom/equality are we willing to sacrifice in the name of security?
The pursuit of security is marked by trade-offs
History of Security Studies as a field of study
1950s-1960s: the ''Golden Age''
The two world wars
▸Civilian contributions to security strategy
▸Long-term strategy to avoid war
The national interest
▸Security rather than welfare
The nuclear revolution
▸Research on deterrence, containment, coercion, escalation, arms control
▸Belief in deductive, rational thinking
1960s-1970s: end of the Golden Age
Limits to traditional approaches
▸Not applicable to peasant war in Vietnam
▸Limited view of politics
▸Assumes perfect information & constant ability to rationally calculate
Public disinterest in "national security"
▸Critique of Vietnam War: security studies becomes unfashionable
Focus on international political economy
1970s-1990s: the renaissance of Security Studies
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
Need of a civilian component in the study of military action, that was previously reserved for the
military
Global Security Page 2
,2: Anarchy, Uncertainty and War
04 February 2021 15:18
- [T] Chapter 9 “Uncertainty”, in Williams & McDonald, Introduction to Security Studies,
131-146.
- Levy, Jack S. 2013. “Interstate War and Peace.” In Handbook of International Relations,
edited by Walter Carlsnaes, Thomas Risse-Kappen, and Beth A. Simmons, 581–606. Los
Angeles: SAGE.
- Allison, Graham. 2014. “The Thucydides Trap.” In Rosecrance, Richard N. and Steven E.Miller,
eds. The Next Great War? The Roots of World War I and the Risk of U.S.-China Conflict.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 73–79.
I. Existential features of the international system
a. Anarchy = the absence of government: lack of a common superior and horizontal relations
between sovereign states
i. Consequences of anarchy
▸A system of fear of being attacked and losing power
▸Uncertainty and mistrust in the international system
▸The “self-help” predicament of the state in international affair
b. What is uncertainty?
--> Role of national intelligence agencies: supply the top political leadership of a country
with information about past events, the current state of the world, actors' intentions and
the likely future state of the world
--> uncertainty as an emotion can not be avoided, but its perception and understanding -
and its results- can vary significantly
i. Two types of uncertainty
1. Unsolvable uncertainty, created by material factors and psychological factors
(the limited understanding of the intentions, motives, hopes and fears of
another states' decision makers)
2. Future uncertainty, or '''assuming the worst because the worst is possible'
c. What is the security dilemma? --> A two-level strategic predicament in relations between
states and other actors
• Dilemma of interpretation: ambiguous symbolism of weapons
--> defensive weapons perceived as offensive
• Dilemma of response: limited understanding of intentions and motives of others
--> Unclear which response will bring the most benefit/no response is the right one
--> see contemporary security dilemmas:
- Pakistan-India feud
- US ballistic missile defensive system
Solutions to the security dilemma:
(On how to prevent war)
- Define the other as enemy and maximize (military) power (fatalist logic)
▸Competitive relations between states / mistrust (offensive realism/Mearsheimer)
▸May lead to security paradox (spiral of mutual hostility): two or more actors,
seeking only to improve their own security, provoke through their words or actions
an increase in mutual tension, resulting in less security all round." (Booth and
Wheeler 2008, 9)
▸“spiral model” of conflict escalation (Jervis 1978)
- Create security regimes / international society (mitigator logic)
▸Predictability through mutual learning (defensive realism/Jervis
--> States reveal intentions and reassure rivals
--> Arms control agreements or unilateral force reductions show that a security-
seeking state’s policies are defensive
Global Security Page 3
, seeking state’s policies are defensive
▸Cooperative and confidence-building mechanisms
--> International institutions create transparency & communication (liberalism &
neoliberal institutionalism/Keohane)
--> International law creates reliability (English School/Bull)
- Create an alternative world order (transcender logic)
▸Identify the problem and abolish its source (capitalism, patriarchy, anarchy) (constructivist,
feminist, critical approaches)
--> “Anarchy is what states make of it” (Wendt); from Hobbesian (enemy) to
Lockean (rival) or Kantian (friend) culture
▸Form security communities (Deutsch 1957)
--> Groups of states between which war becomes unthinkable
II. Causes of war
a. What is war?
“Politics by other means” (von Clausewitz)
▸“large-scale or sustained violence between political organizations” (Levy 2013, 581)
▸Political decision to adopt a military strategy
▸Rational and instrumental pursuit of power over others
b. When do states want war?
i. Power transition theory
--> The probability of a major war is greatest at the point when the declining leader is
being overtaken by a rising and dissatisfied challenger: War either initiated by challenger
or declining power (preventive war)
ii. Bargaining model of war
War as the result of a bargaining failure between conflicting states: war is costly and
undesired by everyone, though it does occur
1. Information problems
--> military conflict reveals such information
2. Credible commitment problems
--> Pre-emptive & preventive warfare
3. Issue indivisibility
--> Source of conflict does not allow for a bargain: territorial claims as seen
between Armenia and Azerbaijan
III. War and peace in US-China relations
Short history of US-China relations
1960s: Tensions over the escalating conflict in Vietnam, differences in security, ideology and
development models;
1970s: Warming relationship, US one-China policy (Taiwan=China), formal diplomatic ties in
1979;
1990s: Clinton's policy of ''Constructive Engagement'' paving the way for China to join the WTO,
US-China Relations Act 2000
Today: China becomes US largest foreign creditor in 2008 and the world's second largest
economy in 2010
China's threat to the US
i. China’s economic trajectory
-> IMF estimates China becomes the largest economy by 2030
ii. China’s military expenditure
-> Increased military spending by both the US & China
iii. China’s Belt and Road Initiative
-> Increased economic ties between China and participating states
iv. Current tensions between the US and China
-> Chinese cyber attacks in pursuit of the trade secrets of US firms (end to Xi-Obama
cyber ceasefire)
Global Security Page 4
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