Short Notes - Security Studies

CARIBBEAN MARITIME UNIVERSITY
Presented in Partial Fulfilment of B.Sc. in Security Administration and Management
Course Code: PNS705

Title: Private and National Security Interface
Presented By:
Kimberlee Markland
Presented to:
Mr Desmond Brooks
Date:
June 15, 2019
Critical Security Studies
 Critical Security Studies (CSS) is an umbrella term for a range of approaches that
challenged the traditional approach to security- which was too narrowly focused on the
military security of states- and called for a “deeper” and “broader” scope for
understanding threats to security (Vaugh-Williams, 2010).CSS argues that military force,
although important, is not the only potential threat to security, that other threats are
equally worthy of consideration.1
 One proponent of CSS, Barry Buzan, maintained that security ought to be considered in
five different “sectors”: military, environmental, economic, political and societal (Vaugh-
Williams, 2010). Buzan maintained that people are threatened by a multitude of issues:
not only war but also poverty, famine, political oppression and environmental
degradation, to name a few. Similar sentiments were shared by other proponents of CSS,
Ken Booth and Richard Wyn Jones, who claimed people will feel secure not just through
protection from military threats, but also through protection from the threat of poverty,
ill-health, environmental degradation, and so on (Vaugh-Williams, 2010).
 Ultimately, for CSS, the study of should security seek to illuminate the wide range of
constraints on human well-being that exist in many parts of the world and challenge the
forms of security knowledge and practices that perpetuate these constraints.
Critique- CSS broadens to scope of threats to security without providing a rubric by which
incidences are categorized as threats to security or merely risks or societal issues.
1
The Cold War proved a be a conundrum for traditional security theorists which saw the dissolution of a state
without the use of military force. The sudden lack of a security problem, in addition to the apparent declining
utility of military force, stimulated reflection and critical evaluation within the academy on the meaning of security
(Vaugh-Williams, 2010).
Feminist Security Studies
 Feminist Security Studies (FSS) sought to broaden and deepen the scope of security
studies by questioning traditional constructions of security, examining how women
are affected by such constructions and investigating the real-life security experiences
of women around the world (Vaugh-Williams, 2010).
 While there is no single feminist security perspective, feminist theorists are united by
the belief that women’s distinct experiences, needs, beliefs and voices matter to
security studies.
 One proponent of feminist security studies, Cynthia Enloe, claimed that making
women invisible led to a profoundly unrealistic caricature of security relations,
because it hides the workings of both femininity and masculinity in international
politics. Enloe’s research strategy was to focus on marginal women in order to show
how the conduct of international security to some extent depends upon men’s control
over them (liberal feminist approach) (Vaugh-Williams, 2010).
 Another proponent, Judith Ann Tickner, aimed to think about how the discipline of
international relations might look if gender were included as a category of analysis
and if women’s experiences were part of the subject matter out of which theories
were constructed (standpoint feminist approach) (Vaugh-Williams, 2010).
Critique- Research into the gendered nature of security has opened new insights into the
behaviour and identity of the state and the sexualised politics it relies upon. It has
problematised aspects of the relationship between human security and international
political economy drawing our attention to inequalities otherwise obscured in security
studies.
Post-Structural Security Studies
 Post-Structural Security Studies challenges those structures, logics and practices in
which an issue becomes a security threat. It moves away from discussions about
security as something that “is” (a state of being) to how security is a process, how
security is practiced and what security does (Williams & Mcdonald, 2018).
 From a post-structuralist perspective, security is seen as a logic informing war as
practice. Security is not limited to who can authoritatively “speak” security and how
it is practiced. Security is also an exclusionary logic, which means that security is
equally about who cannot speak security, i.e., the marginalized and silenced voices in
particular stories of security (Williams & Mcdonald, 2018).
 Jacques Derrida claimed that security always relies on the “other”. Meaning, one can
only understand what security means by having some form of recognition of what
insecurity means (Vaugh-Williams, 2010).
 Drawing upon Foucault, poststructuralists emphasized the significance of power and
knowledge, of security discourses as “plays of power which mobilize rules, codes and
procedures to assert a particular understanding, through the construction of
knowledge.” Knowledge in turn was not free of value judgments and the claim to
objectivity that classical positivists espouse was therefore upended (Vaugh-Williams,
2010).
Critique- Post-structural security studies, being derived from post-structural thought,
brings in question the very essence of what security means. It poses an endless thought-
process into what security means, how it can be achieved and who or what guarantee
security for whom.

References
Vaugh-Williams, N. P. (2010). Critical Security Studies- An Introduction (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Retrieved from
https://is.muni.cz/el/1423/jaro2017/BSS405/um/Columba_Peoples__Nick_Vaughan-
Williams-Critical_Security_Studies__An_Introduction-Routledge__2010_-__1-88_.pdf
Williams, P., & Mcdonald, M. (2018). Security Studies: An Introduction (3rd ed.). Routledge.
Retrieved from
https://www.academia.edu/36497284/Chapter_6_Poststructuralism_Security_Studies_An
_introduction

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CARIBBEAN MARITIME UNIVERSITY

Presented in Partial Fulfilment of B.Sc. in Security Administration and Management

Course Code: PNS705

understanding threats to security (Vaugh-Williams, 2010).CSS argues that military force,

equally worthy of consideration.1

ill-health, environmental degradation, and so on (Vaugh-Williams, 2010).

forms of security knowledge and practices that perpetuate these constraints.

incidences are categorized as threats to security or merely risks or societal issues.

studies by questioning traditional constructions of security, examining how women

of women around the world (Vaugh-Williams, 2010).

women invisible led to a profoundly unrealistic caricature of security relations,

because it hides the workings of both femininity and masculinity in international

over them (liberal feminist approach) (Vaugh-Williams, 2010).

international relations might look if gender were included as a category of analysis

were constructed (standpoint feminist approach) (Vaugh-Williams, 2010).

problematised aspects of the relationship between human security and international

political economy drawing our attention to inequalities otherwise obscured in security

 Post-Structural Security Studies challenges those structures, logics and practices in

 From a post-structuralist perspective, security is seen as a logic informing war as

it is practiced. Security is also an exclusionary logic, which means that security is

particular stories of security (Williams & Mcdonald, 2018).

insecurity means (Vaugh-Williams, 2010).

 Drawing upon Foucault, poststructuralists emphasized the significance of power and

procedures to assert a particular understanding, through the construction of

objectivity that classical positivists espouse was therefore upended (Vaugh-Williams,

Critique- Post-structural security studies, being derived from post-structural thought,

security for whom.

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