Critical Approaches and New Frameworks

Abstract

Chapter 2 explored the traditional theories of security found in various strands of realism and liberalism. While these are diverse, a range of new approaches to understanding security have emerged that have different foundations and pose different questions. These approaches are critical of the underlying rationalist assumptions of realism and liberalism. Some also criticize the traditional focus on military security and engage more with the broader range of security issues and deeper range of security referents discussed. They have tended to be more explicitly theoretical and have produced a deeper and more direct engagement with social and political theory (see Chapter 1). Much of the critique of traditional theory has targeted realism and neorealism, but is also critical of the assumptions shared with liberalism and the practices of liberal security that dominate many Western states’ security politics. These new theories of security have evolved through disagreements with each other. For instance, in contrast to realism, almost all these approaches emphasize the importance of ideas as well as material factors in understanding security, but they differ on which ideas matter and how.