22/09/2023

UAB - INTERNATIONAL SECURITY (Course 2023-24)

Lecturer: Juan Pablo Soriano

Under this License You are free to:

• Share — copy and redistribute the material in any 2. Defining
medium or format
security
Under the following terms:
• Attribution — You must give appropriate credit and indicate if changes were
made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that
suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. Objectives of this presentation
• NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial 1. Analyze and compare different approaches for defining security.
purposes. 2. Identify and distinguish between referent-based and issue-based
approaches to security.
• ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must
3. Cases of contemporary security problems from different
distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
perspectives: analytical and practical/policy implications.
• No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological
measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits1 2
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The following slides are based mainly on:

• Security is a very important value. It allows
• Browning, C. S. (2013). ”Chapter 2. A contested nature,” in to perform important secondary goals of the
International security: a very short introduction. Oxford: multiple dimensions of human well-being.
OUP, pp. 5-17.
• Malik, S. (2015). “Framing a discipline”. In: Hough, P., Stokes, • Many different interpretations of what
W., Moran, A., & Pilbeam, B. (eds.). International Security security is. The past decades have seen
Studies: Theory and Practice. Routledge. (pp. 3-10). extensive debates over how security should
• Stowell, J. (2018-Nov-15). “What is Security? Everything”. be studied, understood, and practically
Global Security Review. Retrieved 05-10-2019 from: provided. (Krause, K., & Williams, M., p. 8-9)
https://globalsecurityreview.com/what-is-security-
everything/
• In practice, threats to security are not
• Williams, P. (2008). "Security studies: an introduction." In: always self-evident and objectively
Security Studies: an introduction. Routledge, pp. 1-12. knowable.

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Security environment in the 21st Century

PAUL D. WILLIAMS : Security Studies as “a field on inquiry”
formed by four fundamental questions (p.5): • The rise of non-sate actors and their impact on
international (in)security
1. What is security?
• Such as terrorist attacks; trafficking in people, weapons,
drugs, money, natural resources, etc.;
2. Whose security are we talking about?
• role of non-state actors in the provision of (in)security
3. What counts as a security issue? (private security companies), among other examples.

4. How can security be achieved? • A multi-faceted security environment, with a proliferation

of new types of actors that (inside and outside the state)
practice (in)security (GHECIU and WOHLFORTH, p.3)
There are different and competing answers for each of these
questions

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Security environment in the 21st Century Security environment in the 21st Century

More complex “security geographies”

• The impact of climate change; outer space; cyberspace and artificial
intelligence; hybrid threats by state and non-state actors)
• So-called “appropriate” responses to the new
• NATO’s perspective on hybrid threats in April 2019: security environment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9v_bpGTwOM
• European Council’s perspective on hybrid threats in October 2019:
• Preventive military attacks;
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdYSxBqeZbI
• Unilateral actions and “coalitions of the willing”
• The so-called Global War on Terror (GWT)
• The global war on crime
• increase in surveillance practices (and the trade-off
between liberty & security).

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Academic, political and practical

debates around what security is
The concept of security concept
as “unavoidably political”
•Who should provide security?

•Public or private actors

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Security concept as “unavoidably political” (1) Security concept as “unavoidably political” (2)
Debates on the REFERENT OBJECT of security (which
• Security in the Social Sciences: not one definition. Security
entity should be protected?): the state, the individual,
as an “essentially contested concept”; “there can be no
a specific society, the planet?
consensus as to its meaning”. (Williams, p. 1).

• The security of the state (national security): war,

• Examples of other relevant “essentially contested” concepts in
Social Sciences: power, peace, justice, freedom, rights, culture,
identity.
• Disagreements about the nature and meaning of security are
common and constitute the heart on many political debates.
• Usually, identification of threats and their ranking in terms or
priorities is a matter of disagreement in politics (Browning pp.
6-7)
invasion, coercion, sovereignty, etc.
• The security of individuals: violence, hunger,
disease, repression, among others.
• The security of international society: values, norms,
institutions, practices.
• The security of the peoples of the world and the
planet (global security): the environment, the
survival of the biosphere, the human race, etc.

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Security concept as “unavoidably political” (3)

• Invoking security calls for the prioritization of
matters, to invoke immediate actions, or
mobilization of resources of all kinds.

• Leaders using the concept may even demand

sacrifices from societies and individuals.
• See: Winston Churchill's "Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat"
The traditional
Speech. May 13, 1940. First Speech as Prime Minister to concept of security
House of Commons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TlkN-dcDCk in Security Studies
• Security narratives: presenting things as security
matters in order to justify curbing civil liberties or
keep discussions and information out of the
public domain (BROWING, p. 6).

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The “traditional” concept of security. Five ideas The “traditional” concept of security. Five ideas
(See MILLER pp. 16-17) (See MILLER pp. 16-17)

1. Origins of the threats. Other states, notably those 4. Who is responsible for providing security? States themselves
that want to change the status quo (“revisionist (self-help system), since there is to higher authority above
states”), or those who want to acquire more power them (anarchical international system).
(usually material power: invasions).
5. Core values to be defended. States will go to war to defend
2. Nature of the threats: mostly military their:
• sovereignty
• national independence
3. The response to the threats. Basically military (build • territorial integrity
military capabilities), or diplomatic-military • inviolability of borders, and
(establishment of military alliances) • non-interference in their domestic affairs.

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Some criticisms of the traditional

definition of security

• Narrow agenda: The international agenda cannot only be based of

Broadening and
the security of “territorial states, military threats and the danger of
war and inter-state” competition. “Traditionalist approaches”: the
deepening:
security of the state, mainly from external military threats.

• Nonmilitary issues: Traditional view diminishes the importance of

two key concepts
nonmilitary issues increasingly affecting national, regional, and
international security (Miller p. 14).
in the definition
and study of
• Responses: Exclusively military responses to security threats are not security
sufficient, neither adequate in many cases (Miller pp. 17-18).

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Broadening (or widening) the definition of security Deepening the definition of security
• Expansion of the referent objects of security. What/who should be
secured?
• Expansion of the relevant security issues (expansion of
the agenda) • Security Studies has deepened its understanding of what/who should be
secured (held as a referent object).
• What can legitimately be seen as a threat to security.
• Increase the number of referent objects other than the state to capture
Security Studies have broadened its perspective to the complexity of contemporary security dynamics:
encompass a diverse range of threats, dangers and risks. • Individuals,
• Sub-state groups,
• Other dimensions beyond the military security of the • States,
• World regions,
nation state: the environment, economy, migration, global
• The global system,
health, food, energy, human rights, private data, among • The biosphere
others. • Cyberspace
• Outer space

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The “broadening” and “deepening” of the security concept

(specially after the Cold War) (see MILLER pp. 18-23)
Implications of “broadening”
and “deepening” the concept of 1. Origins of the threats.
concept
• Not only from rival states, but also from a wide
variety of non-state actors (domestic or
1. Origins of the threats. transnational).

2. Nature of the threats. • Also, states can be a source of insecurity for their own
3. The response to the threats. citizens:
• discrimination on ethnic, racial or gender basis;
4. Who is responsible for providing • political repression;
security? • violation of human rights
• ethnic cleansing and mass killings.
5. Core values to be defended
• In “failed states”, or “weak states”, citizens are highly
vulnerable (terrorists, militias, organized crime, etc.).
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The “broadening” and “deepening” of the security concept The “broadening” and “deepening” of the security concept
(specially after the Cold War) (see MILLER pp. 18-23) (specially after the Cold War) (see MILLER pp. 18-23)

2. Nature of the threats. 4. Who is responsible for providing security?

• Addressing threats to well-being and survival of
individuals, not only threats for states.
• “Comprehensive approach to security”, addressing a
wide variety of threats both to “human security” and to
states security.
• The state is not the only agent responsible for providing security in a
supposedly self-help system.
• “Common security” in an increasingly interdependent International
Society (role of international norms and multilateral institutions).
• Cooperation in a multi-level and multi-stakeholder system of public and
private actors.

• Different security dimensions: military, political, social, 5. Core values to be defended.

economic, environmental, cultural, among others.
• From national to global; from the state to the individual.

3. The response to the threats. • Individual human rights and needs; and “transnational values common to
• Military and non-military. Depending on the origins and all humanity”.
nature of the threats.
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Criticisms to the broadening (widening) of the concept

(based on Miller pp. 23-29) (1)

• War and violence (by state and non-state violent

actors –guerrillas, terrorist organizations) are still at
Some criticisms to the the heart of the international security agenda

broadening (or • There is a persistent condition of systemic international

anarchy.
widening) of the • The relevance of the state system: distribution of power,
security concept noninterference and sovereignty concerns, territorial
integrity issues, and inter-state competition and war have
not decreased.
• Internal/domestic violence easily spreads to other countries
and regions.
• No effective collective security organizations: armed conflict
still seen as last resort in case of important values and
interests are at stake.
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Criticisms to the broadening (expansion) of the concept
(based on Miller pp. 23-29) (2)
• Loss of intellectual coherence both of the concept
and in the academic field.
• The “broadening” of the concept of security has created a
kind of “shopping list” in which everything can be
defined as a security issue/threat.
• Not clear what important human activity “is not security.”
Criticisms to the broadening (expansion) of the concept (3)
• Inability to evaluate policy implications. Promotion
of political agendas.
• If security is everything, how to decide resource allocation to
confront threats? What should be the criteria if, potentially,
everything can be labeled as a security threat/risk?
• A concept used as the most important political argument/tool “in
the struggle over the allocation of resources” (of all kinds).
(Williams, p. 1).

• In public policy making (including security matters) there is always

• This reduces the “analytic utility and explanatory value” a competition between competing objectives and scarce
of the concept. resources.

• A wide comprehensive notion could generate “confusion • The broadening could allow the political manipulation of certain
issues. The “securitization” of any issue, calls for adopting
rather than clarity”. exceptional measures. Through this procedure, certain elites can
promote their agendas.
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