Critical security studies (CSS) is an
academic discipline
An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...
within
security studies
__NOTOC__
Security studies, also known as international security studies, is an academic sub-field within the wider discipline of international relations that studies organized violence, military conflict, national security, and international s ...
which draws on
critical theory
A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from soci ...
to revise and, at times, reject the narrow focus of mainstream approaches to security. Similarly to the case of
critical international relations theory
Critical international relations theory is a diverse set of schools of thought in international relations (IR) that have criticized the theoretical, meta-theoretical and/or political status quo, both in IR theory and in international politics mor ...
, critical security studies encompasses a wide range of theories including but not limited to:
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
,
neo-Gramscian,
Marxist
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
,
post-structuralist
Post-structuralism is a term for philosophical and literary forms of theory that both build upon and reject ideas established by structuralism, the intellectual project that preceded it. Though post-structuralists all present different critiques ...
,
postcolonial
Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. More specifically, it is a ...
, and
queer theory. Additionally, critical security studies, draws from a number of related disciplines such as
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
,
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
, and
criminology
Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...
to find alternative routes to approach questions of security.
Definition
Defining critical security studies can be difficult due to the wide range of theories involved, meaning that any single definition is likely to exclude works and scholars who would list themselves, or be listed by most scholars as part of the subfield. Due to this, most definitions of critical security studies focus on listing shared components rather than create a single definition. Browning and McDonald argue that critical security studies entails three main components: the first is a rejection of conventional (particularly
realist) approaches to security, rejecting or critiquing the theories, epistemology, and implications of realism, such as the total focus on the role of the state when approaching questions of security. The second is that of critically examining the meaning of security and the politics surrounding it, in particular the "function of representations or discourses of security in defining group identity, enabling particular policy or legitimating particular actors as security providers." One such example of this is that of the
Copenhagen School and their theory of
securitization
Securitization is the financial practice of pooling various types of contractual debt such as residential mortgages, commercial mortgages, auto loans or credit card debt obligations (or other non-debt assets which generate receivables) and selling ...
. The third component, is that of critically examining the ethics and approaches inherent to the study of security. More recent topics of concern include
environmental
A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
and
planetary,
health
Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...
,
ontological
In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality.
Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities exis ...
,
border
Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...
or
everyday security.
Uses of the term
The term "critical security studies" is most often used to refer to some variation of the above definition of critical security studies, as a subfield of
security studies
__NOTOC__
Security studies, also known as international security studies, is an academic sub-field within the wider discipline of international relations that studies organized violence, military conflict, national security, and international s ...
or a set of alternative paradigms within that field. However, it has also been used to refer to a specific strand of approaches within this subfield, which has as its most characteristic element a commitment to
emancipatory theory that is not shared by other critical approaches to security. The authors representing this latter view, such as
Ken Booth and
Richard Wyn Jones
Richard Wyn Jones is a Welsh academic at Cardiff University, where he is Director of Cardiff University's Wales Governance Centre and Dean of Public Affairs. Jones was a former Professor of Welsh Politics at Cardiff as well as the founding Di ...
, are usually referred to as the Aberystwyth or
Welsh School to avoid ambiguity.
See also
*
Critical theory
A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from soci ...
*
Critical international relations theory
Critical international relations theory is a diverse set of schools of thought in international relations (IR) that have criticized the theoretical, meta-theoretical and/or political status quo, both in IR theory and in international politics mor ...
*
Copenhagen School (international relations)
*
Welsh School (security studies) The Welsh School (sometimes the Aberystwyth School) also known as emancipatory realism is a school within the discipline of security studies. It is a critical approach that aims to link security to critical theory and which relies upon insights from ...
*
International political sociology International Political Sociology (IPS) is an interdisciplinary field and set of approaches at the crossroads of international relations theory and other disciplines such as sociology, geography and anthropology. It is structured around initiatives ...
*
Postmodernism (international relations)
Postmodern international relations is an approach that has been part of international relations scholarship since the 1980s. Although there are various strands of thinking, a key element to postmodernism, postmodernist theories is a distrust of a ...
References
Further reading
*Krause, K., & Williams, M. C. (1997). ''Critical security studies: Concepts and strategies''. New York: Routledge.
*Peoples, C., & Vaughan-Williams, N. (2021). ''Critical security studies: An introduction'' (3rd edition). New York: Routledge.
*Salter, M., & Mutlu, C. E. (eds.). (2013). ''Research methods in critical security studies''. New York: Routledge.
International relations theory
Security studies
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