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Security: A New Framework for Analysis. By Barry Buzan, Ole Weaver, and Jaap de Wilde. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1998. 239p. $55.00 cloth, $19.95 paper.
This reconceptualization of the field of security studies proposes to broaden the scholarly agenda beyond the traditional focus on states and political-military competition. The authors argue for a constructivist approach that extends the analysis of international security to culture, economics, and the environment. They contend that a rethinking of the boundaries and tools of security studies is badly needed, but the alternative route proposed in this volume is likely to lead to a dead end.
The authors argue that the label security should be attached to issues that are "staged as existential threats to referent objects by a securitizing actor who thereby generates endorsement of emergency measures beyond rules that would otherwise bind" (p. 5). This compact but jargon-laden definition turns on three elements: the concept of security, the nature of referent objects, and the role of securitizing actors.
Security is defined to involve perceived threats to the survival of some highly valued referent object. The objects can be varied, including not only territorial states but also nonstate actors (e.g., nations, tribes, classes), sets of abstract principles (e.g., the rules of the liberal international economic order), or even nature itself (e.g., the global environment). Similarly, threats can arise from any source, including aggressive states, unfavorable social trends (e.g., rapid population growth), or cultural imperialism (e.g., westernization). Existential threats can manifest themselves across a number of different policy contexts or "sectors," including economic, environmental, cultural, and the more traditional political and military spheres.
Security threats, however, exist only to the extent that they are experienced subjectively. A new issue is placed on the security agenda after a leading actor has successfully carried out a securitizing speech act. The latter term refers to discursive practices designed to persuade a given target audience that some valued referent object faces...