From Conflict to Cooperation in the Study of International Security

Abstract

Proposed here is a reorientation of the study of international security from its traditional emphasis on conflict to a new emphasis on cooperation. International cooperation, understood here to refer to coordinated and joint initiatives among two or more nations, has the potential of providing a new basis for international security, understood here to refer to the absence of interstate violence or hostility. Indeed, a shift from a focus on international conflict to a focus on international cooperation has the potential of providing a productive and innovative reorientation of scholarly and policy discussion in the area of international security. Past studies have emphasized potential conflict and mechanisms for conflict resolution, such as military preparedness to forestall an attack by a potential enemy; the formation of alliances; deterrence, including but not limited to nuclear deterrence; and defense, whether passive or active and whether defense of the population or defense of retaliatory weapons systems. Future studies, by contrast, might appropriately emphasize potential cooperation, such as joint and cooperative approaches to international security issues and cooperation in a wide variety of areas, including, among others, political, economic, and scientific and technical cooperation. Cooperation is, in many respects, the neglected “other side of the coin” of conflict. Many scholars have noted that international relations is not a zero-sum game, implying that there are elements of both conflict and cooperation in international relations. They then, however, typically will go on to study the conflictual aspects of international relations, whether political conflict, military confrontation, or trade disputes, ignoring actual or potential cooperative aspects of international relations, including political integration, cooperative solutions to security problems, or trade agreements and expansion.