Security Conception in IR

Dr. Murat Aslan

 SECURITY CONCEPTION IN IR
Resources:
* John Baylis and Steve Smith, The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction
to International Relations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), pp. 299-314.
* David A. Baldwin, “The Concept of Security,” Review of International Studies,
Vol. 23 (1997): pp. 5-26.
 SECURITY CONCEPTION IN IR
For security;
* Debates of realists vs. idealists = pessimists vs. optimists.
- Post-World War I: optimism due to League of Nations
- Post-World War II: pessimism due to the Cold War
* A new paradigm inspired scholars, which forefronts cooperation among
individual(s) and communal collectivities (including states).
* The questions is/was if there could be global peaceful co-existence in
international system.
* Discussion: What comes first: national security or international security?
 SECURITY CONCEPTION IN IR
* Security is a contested concept. (David Baldwin’s questions in the next slide!)
* It implies freedom from threats to core values.
* The problem is about enquiry of security if it ought to be at individual, national
or international level. (The issue of level and units of analysis)
* Pre-Cold War era was prone to military thinking in assessing possessed security.
* Contemporary thinkers argue that security conception needs to be expanded
covering a wide range of other considerations rather than parochial security
conception.
- Barry Buzan - People, States and Fear: Security covers political, economic,
societal, environmental and military as well. Then states think not only of self
security, but also its neighbours.
 SECURITY CONCEPTION IN IR
* The Questions of David Baldwin on the Concept of Security;
- Security for Whom?
- Security for which values?
- How much security?
- From what threats?
- By what means?
- In what time period?
 SECURITY CONCEPTION IN IR
* Some writers claim that dual process of integration and fragmentation
characterizes the modern world that societal security sealed the era of the post
Cold War.
* Some others claim that global society appears to be the focal point of security
due to ongoing globalization process. Global threats like nuclear accidents, global
monetary system or epidemic diseases surpassed the security augmentation of
single state actor, but cooperating globe.
* Then only the development of a global community, conscious of common
threats, can deal with emerging global issue fields.
 SECURITY CONCEPTION IN IR
* Traditional Approach (Classical Realists):
- States are essential in which they operate.
- States are sovereign entities and require a self help security system.
- Hobbes, Machiavelli and Rousseau are pessimists of this kind.
- International system is a brutal arena that states are in search of security at
the expense of the others.
- Permanent peace is unlikely to be achieved.
- E.H. Carr and Hans Morgenthau are the scholars of the realist tradition who
are pessimist in pure realist point of view.
 SECURITY CONCEPTION IN IR
* Neorealists:
- Kenneth Waltz and John Mearsheimer are neo-realist thinkers who expanded realism and
softened its tone. Their arguments are as follows:
+ International system is anarchic, which implies, not chaos but no central authority.
+ States develop offensive military capabilities which makes them dangerous for each other.
+ Uncertainty is inherent in international system that states do not trust each other.
+ Survival is the most dominant driving motivation for states.
+ States are rational though; they may have miscalculations.
- States are aggressive and insecurity (or security) is the result of this structure.
- Discussion: Was the Cold War a security source or not, in the frame of Neorealism?
- Discussion: Can states cooperate according to neorealism?
 SECURITY CONCEPTION IN IR
* Security Dilemma:
- John Herz articulated the concept in 1950s.
- Self-help attempt of states to look after their security needs, tends
regardless of their intention to lead a rising of insecurity for others.
- Unresolvable uncertainty is military preparations of states. Are
they for defence or offense? Then no trust to the others.
- If mistrust is mutual, “action-reaction cycle” gives birth to high
levels of fear against each other.
- Insecurity breeds more insecurity.
 SECURITY CONCEPTION IN IR
* The difficulties of cooperation between states:
- The problem of cheating
- The problem of relative gains
* Discussion: What are the difficulties of the USA and Turkey
if these two parameters are taken?
 SECURITY CONCEPTION IN IR
* The opportunities of cooperation between states;
- Contingent realism,
- Mature anarchy,
- Liberal Institutionalism,
- Democratic Peace theory,
- Idea of collective security.
 SECURITY CONCEPTION IN IR
* The opportunities of cooperation between states;
- Contingent realism,
+ Charles Glaser:
Adversaries can best achieve their security goals by cooperating
rather than competition.
+ Self help of states do not mean perpetual competition.
+ States cooperate because they know the dangers of relative gains.
+ The emphasis on cheating is overdone.
 SECURITY CONCEPTION IN IR
* The opportunities of cooperation between states;
- Mature anarchy;
+ There is an intense danger of competing in nuclear age.
+ There are good reasons to take the interests of the others in
consideration.
+ National securities are interdependent.
+ Hence states build security communities rather than competing ones.
But it is rather a slow process.
+ Disagreements occur, but they can be managed by peaceful approaches.
 SECURITY CONCEPTION IN IR
* The opportunities of cooperation between states;
- Liberal Institutionalism:
+ Institutions play a crucial role in enhancing security, particularly in
Europe.
+ The institutions can flexibly deal with emerging circumstances and
decrease the level of uncertainty.
+ They provide information, reduce cost, make commitments more
credible, establish focal points and facilitate reciprocity.
+ Institutions are unlikely to eradicate war, but likely to promote
cooperation.
 SECURITY CONCEPTION IN IR
* The opportunities of cooperation between states;
- Democratic Peace Theory;
+ Democratic states tend not to fight the other democratic states.
+ Michael Doyle and Brice Russet champions this idea.
+ The inspiration comes from the 1795 essay of Immanuel Kant –
Perpetual Peace.
+ Democracies are most likely to settle mutual conflicts without threats or
use of force.
 SECURITY CONCEPTION IN IR
* The opportunities of cooperation between states;
- Idea of collective security:
+ States abide by norms and values for stability.
+ States band together to stop aggression.
+ States;
Renounce the use of force and settle the dispute peacefully.
When a troublemaker appears, responsible states automatically and collectively
confront the aggressor.
States must overcome the fear and learn to trust each other.
States can concentrate on their domestic welfare.
 SECURITY CONCEPTION IN IR
* ALTERNATIVE VIEWS – Social Constructivists;
- IR is shaped not only by power politics, but also ideas.
- The structure of international politics is social.
- We should change the way we think about security.
- They share the views of realists or neo-realists. But they believe that structure is not
only the product of material capability, but social relationships.
- Social structures are made up of shared knowledge, material resources and practices.
- In other words social structures are defined by shared understanding, expectation, or
knowledge.
- It is hard to change socially constructed ideas for Alexander Wendt – Anarchy is what
states make of it.
 SECURITY CONCEPTION IN IR
* ALTERNATIVE VIEWS – Critical Theory and Feminist Approach;
- State has been given a prominent role. That is wrong. Criticals and feminists de-
emphasize the role of state and reconceptualise security.
- States are part of the the problem in accordance with the problem solving
theories.
- Attention should be diverted to individuals, not the state.
- Human emancipation appears to be the core purpose.
- Human emancipation requires us to free the people from constraints that stop
them to choose what freely they want.
- For feminists, politics is masculine. Women are more affected than men in wars.
Women offer new and alternative perspectives. Security in included to this argument.
 SECURITY CONCEPTION IN IR
* ALTERNATIVE VIEWS – Post Modernist View;
- Ideas matter, but also the discourse.
- For instance, if the discourse of realism is challenged, there is no need to go to war.
It is about how we are programmed to think about war as realist.
- There are many interpretations of security. No constants, no fixed meanings, no
limits of history…
- Post modernists emphasize the normative values.
- There can be no single interpretation of reality.
- Language and discourse of security need to be transformed.
- Say no, ask why, understand how?
- Epistemic community has moral grounds to answer such questions.
 SECURITY CONCEPTION IN IR
* ALTERNATIVE VIEWS – Globalist Views of International Security;
- Global society enlarges the security perceptions.
- Global economy or communications facilitated the wide network relationships and transcend
the state frontiers. It encompass all peoples around the globe.
- Nation state is in crises since environment, poverty or weapons of mass destruction are facing all
humanity.
- Global awareness and global social interactions fragmented states.
- Existing key institutions are under pressure; monarchy, family, church etc.: Conflict within states!
- Anthony Giddens: Utopian realism!
- Ian Clarke:
Wide spread systemic developments to downplay the role of the state.
Security is being shaped by globalization.
States need to transform to address the security needs.
 SECURITY CONCEPTION IN IR
* TENSION BETWEEN NATIONAL, INTERNATIONAL AND GLOBAL SECURITY;
- Realists: Nothing has really changed!
- But more attention need to be given within and beyond state due to
globalization.
- But globalization challenged national security either affirmative or
negative.
 SECURITY CONCEPTION IN IR
* Conclusion:
- There are more dynamics to restructure security in the current era at all
levels and units of analysis.
 Re-conceptualization of
Security After the Cold War

Dr. Murat Aslan

 Re-conceptualization of Security
Resources:
* John Baylis and Steve Smith, The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction
to International Relations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), pp. 299-314.
* Hans Günter Brauch, “Güvenliğin Yeniden Kavramsallaştırılması: Barış, Güvenlik,
Kalkınma ve Çevre Kavramsal Dörtlüsü,” in Mustafa Aydın et al. (eds), Uluslararası
İlişkilerde Çatışmadan Güvenliğe Seçme Makaleler, pp. 167-196 (MUST READING).
 Re-conceptualization of Security
* Security is a fundamental concept that can flexibly be adopted to varying situation and
environment of human, social groupings, society at all and occurrences as well.
* Security is heavily affiliated with the concept of peace while bearing extra-ordinary
measures for peace or deny risks/threat.
* Security does not have an autonomous meaning but need to be linked to a further issue:
security of human, thing or nation etc.
* Security is contested because, it;
- is the fundamental task of sovereign for the reigned (Hobbes and Pufendorf).
- is affiliated with freedom for the US Constitution.
- is the one among four fundamental human rights for the French Declaration of Human
Rights (Liberty, Property, Safety and Resistance to Oppression).
- legally bounds state to establish it and appears to be a feature of security.
 Re-conceptualization of Security
* Kant – Perpetual Peace;
- Inspired collective security perception of League of Nations and the UN.
- But the period between World Wars witnessed the usage of defence,
national survival, national interest, sovereignty, and power.
* 1929 Economic Crises introduces “social security” as a new paradigm in 1934’s
“New Deal”.
* 1941 Transatlantic Charter; the object of securing, for all, improved labour
standards, economic advancement and social security.
* World War II and afterwards; mass of military and weapons along with military
thinking of foreign offices, based on strong industrial economic basis, intelligence
capacity and police forces.
 Re-conceptualization of Security
* After the Cold War; transformation towards human security from national security.
* 1990s witnessed widened security conception, enlarging the themes of security
including economic environment, food or health) rather than narrow security of military
focus.
* Copenhagen School;
- Expansion of security (military, political, economic, societal, environmental)
- Deepening of security (level of analysis – international, regional, national, intra-state,
groups and individuals).
- Level of analysis were typified as international systems, international sub-systems,
units, sub-units, individuals.
- Five vertical level of security was also claimed as global, regional, national, societal
and individual.
Re-conceptualization of Security
 Re-conceptualization of Security
* Objective Security;
- Threat, conflicts, vulnerabilities and risks on sectors (food, environment, military etc) at
differing level of analysis (vertical).
* Subjective Security;
- Verbal statements of scholars, politicians or public perception through communication
means.
- Perception of security depends on analyst’s thought/world view and mood/mentality of
decision-makers.
* British School;
- Realists prioritize interests and power of state (Thucydides and Machiavelli)
- Rationalists mentions international society made up of states that can cooperate (Grotius),
- Idealists lean on, first state, later than individual in a world society (Kant).
 Re-conceptualization of Security
* The security is to be prepared for war and conflict in realist tradition (negative
connotation) while for peace and conflict studies in rational and idealist tradition
(positive connotation).
* Security is perceived as narrow and widened after 1990s to identify the
security threats and risks as could be shown in the next slide.
 Re-conceptualization of Security
* Cooperative security conceptions appeared after 1980s;
- Common security (ortak güvenlik),
- Mutual security (karşılıklı güvenlik),
- Cooperative security (işbirlikçi güvenlik),
- Security partnership (güvenlik ortaklığı),
- Expanded security (kapsamlı güvenlik).
 Re-conceptualization of Security
* Globalization of security imposed the following processes;
- De-borderization of security (hudutların ortadan kalkması),
- De-teritorilization of security (devlet sınırlarından bağımsız hale gelmesi),
- Division of multi-ethnic states and re-borderization (toprak parçalanması ve
yeniden sınırların belirlenmesi).
* Hard (military) and soft (immigration, social unrest, drug and human trafficking
etc) threat perception expanded security threats, conflicts, vulnerabilities,
uncertainty (ambiguity) and risks.
 Re-conceptualization of Security
* Supra-state structure of European Union challenged the context of security:
- National security and internal security has been differed.
- Each member state is concerned on national security while their internal security
is inter-connected as much more than the other state actors due to de-borderization.
- Common security approach of EU approximated the security codification while
they have the luxury to implement national security policies.
- On the other hand EU formed an entity by its member states to negotiate the
international security issues and act accordingly in the international organizations if they
compromise on a common approach.
- Besides EU can be a member of international commitment as an entity other
than its members as could be witnessed in the deal of Iranian nuclear program.
 Re-conceptualization of Security
* Samuel P. Huntington –the Clash of Civilizations: And the Remaking of World
Order;
- Securitization of culture is emphasized pending to race and religion.
- It is a sample of prejudice since the book counts nations as the unit of
analysis except Islam. Islam, as a religion, is indicated as adversary of the civilized
world.
- It shaped the security perception of western public and encouraged
polarization of cultures while attributing the the other culture as potential threat.
 Re-conceptualization of Security
* Epistemic community enhanced the context of security conception:
- The first conference on International Relations was held in Istanbul in 2005
and Slovenia in 2008, as the second one.
- Intellectual and conceptual areas of interests are claimed in these
conferences, fore fronting new concepts like energy security, food security or
global warming.
* International Organizations also encouraged new issue fields:
- Mahbub Ul Haq claimed “human security” for the first time in 1994 in UNDP
Report and was supported by UNESCO.
- The UN’s subordinate organizations claimed food, energy and labour
security pending to their areas of interests.
 Re-conceptualization of Security
* Tendencies in re-conceptualization of security appear to be as follows:
- Widening, deepening and sectorization of security,
- Transformation of security towards individual and overall humanity from
state,
- New security threat and risks for re-securitization concerns,
- Non-military perception to satisfy the survival-dilemma of individual against
new threat types.