The Evolution of International Security Studies

by Barry Buzan, Lene Hansen

International Security Studies (ISS) has changed and diversified in many ways since 1945. This book provides the first intellectual history of the development of the subject in that period. It explains how ISS evolved from an initial concern with the strategic consequences of superpower rivalry and nuclear weapons, to its current diversity in which environmental, economic, human and other securities sit alongside military security, and in which approaches ranging from traditional Realist analysis to Feminism and Post-colonialism are in play. It sets out the driving forces that shaped debates in ISS, shows what makes ISS a single conversation across its diversity, and gives an authoritative account of debates on all the main topics within ISS. This is an unparalleled survey of the literature and institutions of ISS that will be an invaluable guide for all students and scholars of ISS, whether traditionalist, ‘new agenda’ or critical.

Genres: International Relations, Politics, Nonfiction, History, Academic

398 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2008

About the author

Barry Buzan is Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (formerly Montague Burton Professor), and honorary professor at Copenhagen and Jilin Universities. In 1998 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. He has written, co-authored or edited over twenty books, written or co-authored more than one hundred and thirty articles and chapters, and lectured, broadcast or presented papers in over twenty countries. Among his books are: People, States and Fear: The National Security Problem in International Relations (1983, revised 2nd edition 1991); The Logic of Anarchy: Neorealism to Structural Realism (1993, with Charles Jones and Richard Little); Security: A New Framework for Analysis (1998, with Ole Wæver and Jaap de Wilde); International Systems in World History: Remaking the Study of International Relations (2000, with Richard Little); Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security (2003, with Ole Wæver); From International to World Society? English School Theory and the Social Structure of Globalisation (2004); The Evolution of International Security Studies (2009, with Lene Hansen) and Non-Western International Relations Theory (2010, co-edited with Amitav Acharya). Work in progress includes The Global Transformation: The 19th Century and the Making of Modern International Relations (2013, with George Lawson).

Reviews

[Mayim de Vries · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd say that this book is exceptionally dry for Buzan.

[Gustavo Sénéchal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book on and off for months, intercalating with shorter texts on some subject matters it also addresses. Some of those texts were referred to in the book. Just for this reason the book accomplishes its main objective, which is do a "tour d'horizon" of International Security Studies (ISS) and outline different arguments, present fields of research and suggest bibliography to further reading. Two interrelated aspects make me give four stars, in fact I think it deserves 3 1/2 stars rather than 4. One is the perhaps excessive weight it gives to Western Europe as a security actor in the world. Western Europe, be it the EU or specific countries such as Germany, UK or France, has been for more than a decade now shying of playing a bolder role in the international security agenda. At the same time, I acknowledge that European academic institutions still undertake a lot of research on security issues. This is also to say that I missed a more comprehensive analysis of Russia, both government and academia, in ISS. The same applies to China and India for that matter. The other aspect I would mention is the, in my view, excessive importance the authors give to 9/11 as a game-changer in ISS. Their analysis of the event and of the so called global war on terrorism overlooks the impact of other significant international events or crises, particularly in Africa and in the Middle East, in ISS. No matter how overwhelming 9/11 was and despite its multifaceted consequences, in 2016, its weight to ISS should be reassessed. Something that could be done perhaps in an updated edition of the book.

[Alexander Lyngstad · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction to the field

[Alyssa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Undoubtedly, this was one of the more painful books to get through for this semester.

[Vaughn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good textbook but hard to read because of the unnecessary terminology. True this is a book more for people in the field of International Security Studies, but it would be nice if the authors had more accessible language. I'm glad that they took to analyze important subjects of International Relations theory and to define them according to pivotal times in global history, like the Cold War, 9/11, the Rise of China and so forth.