Topics in International Relations:

International Security in the New World Order

POL 380H1F L5101 Clifton van der Linden Security Ontology y 7, May 17, 2011

Philosophy of ( p y (Social) Science I )

Social sciences are nomothetic
Seek to develop generalizable theories of the behaviour of actors within a system f i hi

Theories are models of reality that describe, explain and p p predict outcomes
Scientific theories are based on empirical observation, generate models that can be tested and falsified A theory (T2) is superior to a competing theory (T1) when:
T2 is not falsified T2 explains everything T1 explains T2 explains things that T1 cannot explain T2 is more parsimonious

Philosophy of ( p y (Social) Science II )

Paradigms are a set of very broad assumptions to which one is deeply committed and a set of institutional practices governing the current conduct of (social) science
Normal science and routine scientific progress occur while the governing paradigm copes with apparent exceptions When a new, major theory replaces an older one, a paradigm shift occurs

Philosophy of ( p y (Social) Science III )

Paradigms contain bundled sets of ontological assumptions
Ontology a systematic account of existence; or the philosophical study of the nature of being, p p y g, existence or reality

We say that an agent commits to an ontology if its observable actions are consistent with the definitions in the ontology

Security Ontology y gy
Security as concept has been termed essentially contested contested Baldwin (1997) argues the dearth of both conceptual clarity and conceptual debate around security in the security studies literature
Understanding the concept of security is a g p y fundamentally different kind of intellectual exercise from specifying the conditions under which security may be attained (Baldwin 1997: 8) attained.

A Neglected Concept? g p
Why a conceptual analysis of security?
Central to explanations of behaviour Important practical implications
Security as a concept has been used to justify suspending civil liberties, making war, and massively reallocating resources

S Security h not received the serious attention it has t i d th i tt ti accorded to concepts of justice, freedom, equality, obligation, representation, and power. (Baldwin
1997: 9)

The Importance of Specification I p p

An ontology is an explicit specification of a conceptualization Wolfers (1952) characterizes security as the absence of threats to acquired values absence values Security in a general sense has three basic specifications: p
Security for whom? (Referent) Security from what? (Threat) Security for which values? (Value)

The Importance of Specification II p p

Other specifications of security:
How much security? By what means? At what cost? In what time period?

Security Metrics y
As a mathematical calculus, based on the probability of different risks and the effectiveness of different countermeasures As a psychological reaction to both risks and countermeasures

Security as a trade-off y
Salient variables in security trade-off calculus:
The severity of the risk The probability of the risk The magnitude of the costs How effective the countermeasure is at mitigating the risk How well disparate risks and costs can be compared

Perception of these variables can have serious implications i li ti

The value of security y

Prime value approach
Asserts the primacy of the goal of security

Core value approach

Allows for other values by asserting that security is one of several important values

Marginal value approach g pp

Allocates resources to security only as long as the marginal return is greater for security than for other uses of th resources th f the