18 September 2008 POL 349: Critical Security Studies Dr. Benjamin J.

Muller

Context Relationship between liberty & security (Hobbes et al.; the political) Historical Context: Realism & the Cold War The Contested Concept of Security 6 Schools of Thought Questions for discussion

Monroe Doctrine (1823) Truman and use of atomic bomb on Japan Truman Doctrine:

containment

Spheres of influence in Europe and beyond Military-industrial complex in US Realist assumptions

Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) Nuclear Proliferation US-USSR Relations Bipolar World Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) Realist Assumptions RAND - Rational Choice theory - Game Theory

Dtente Non-proliferation regime 1st, 2nd, 3rd World Non-aligned Movement Vietnam War (???-1975) Proxy Wars Kashmir Iran-Iraq Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

Ockhams Razor (14th century) raison detat Machiavellis Prince Cruel to be kind Ends justify means City-state; polis Hobbes Leviathan Treaty of Westphalia (1648)

Universal/particular Moral community inside the state the good life Dual moral standard Political community Problem of Inside/outside Are all realists idealists?

Statism Self-help Survival Anarchy Balance of power Security dilemma

Human nature = state nature Primordial power Sovereignty Territoriality International order anarchy/human nature

Structural anarchy or anarchical system Distribution of power among great powers Great power competition K. Waltz

Structural anarchy States lack of international society Narrow agenda for IR World politics is precisely not politics in the world Richard Ashley orrery of errors

9 Fallacies of Realism (Ken Booth)

1. realism is not realistic: inadequate at describing how the world works effective during the Cold War because it had a hand in constructing that world 2. realism is a misnomer: ideology has appropriated the cloak of objectivity and practicality [positivism] 3. realism is static theory: lacks a conception of the future nuclear deterrence for example, has no conception of the future. 4. realisms methodology is unsophisticated: crude positivism common sense unproblematic relationship between fact and value, the observer and the observed, theory and practice 5. realism fails the test of practice: high levels of insecurity in the world are only contributed to further by leaving political, economic, and social power where it is (hence the emancipatory aspect of CSS) as a political practice, political realism has helped to construct and perpetuate a world politics that fails to provide security for the vast majority of people in the world

6. realisms unspoken assumptions are regressive: prioritization of the victims of politics over the victims of economics (consider the asylum/refugee debate well founded fear) where are the poor? Women? Voiceless (refugees for example are rendered speechless) 7. realisms agenda is narrow: power maximizing state interests and the protection of the statist order problem solving theory rather than critical theory [R. Cox] 8. realist ethics are hostile to the human interest: the power politics of place promoted by realism are no longer in the interests of humanity 9. realism is intellectually rigid: intellectual pluralism is unacceptable to realists; George W. Bush with us or against us war on terror logic

Neutral notion of security is not possible Political and normative commitments are embedded Steve Smith splits the contested concept of security into 6 schools of thought

Copenhagen School & Security Constructivist Security Studies Critical Security Studies Feminist Security Studies Poststructuralist Security Studies Human Security

Barry Buzan, Ole Wver, etc. Additional sectors of security: ecological; societal; economic; political Societal security focus on identity rather than sovereignty Securitization discourse; speech acts Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT)

A. Wendt anarchy is what states make of it Intersubjective understanding/meaning Interaction between culture and strategy Critique: State centric; rationalism; causal rather than constitutive

Wider interpretation of security is needed Rethink the political in security studies Extended security (S. Dalby) Rejection of realism state is also the threat to security or the site of (in)security Emancipation (critique: normative)

C. Enloe; V. S. Peterson; A. Tickner Masculine IR/Security; Gender Trouble Material issues: civilian casualties; rape; refugees; domestic violence Where are women? Personal is Political

Discourse of Strategic studies answer to how states organize violence (B. Klein) Writing Security (D. Campbell) US Foreign Policy constructs US identity National Deconstruction (D. Campbell) ethics, subjectivity, sovereignty, violence

People centered, not state centered (referent object) 7 areas: economic; food; health; environmental; personal; community; political Identifies 6 specific threats based on referent of individual (e.g. Border security) Human needs approach (L. Axworthy) Freedom from want & freedom from fear

Security as contested concept also contest: state; community; emancipation; relations between economics & politics; public/private; domestic/international; inside /outside; action/resistance Extended agenda Securitization and desecuritization

How does the pursuit of particular sectors of extended security (economic, environmental, societal, etc.) alter the subject of security and/or reproduce insecurities?

It has been suggested that the post-11 September 2001 world is characterized by a supposedly new form of asymmetric warfare. To what extent do these critical approaches deal with this problem of asymmetry? To what extent has the war on terror been treated in a similar fashion to the sectors of extended security discussed by Dalby?