The study of security has been dominated for four decades by a scientific perspective that has been under attack since the end of the Cold War. In this book, Bill McSweeney discusses the inadequacy of this approach and criticizes the most recent attempts to surmount it. Drawing on contemporary trends in sociology, he develops a theory of the international order within which the idea of security takes on a broader range of meaning, inviting a more interpretive approach to understanding the concept and formulating security policy.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. The meaning of security; Part I. Objectivist Approaches to International Security: 2. Early stages of development; 3. Broadening the concept of security; 4. Identity versus the state; Part II. Theorizing Security: the Turn to Sociology: 5. A conceptual discussion; 6. The social constructionist approach; 7. The limits of identity theory; 8. Agency and structure in social theory; 9. Seeing a different world: a reflexive sociology of security; Part III. Practising Security: 10. Doing security by stealth; 11. Conclusion: security and moral choice; Bibliography; Index.
