Pushing the Boundaries: Can We “Decolonize” Security Studies?

Fiona B Adamson

doi:10.1093/jogss/ogz057

Abstract

AbstractThis essay reflects on the approaches to inclusion and exclusion put forward in this special issue and suggests a more radical alternative: the project of “decolonizing” the field of security studies. Drawing on work in decolonial thought and critical security studies, I discuss systemic-level structures of inclusion and exclusion such as global racial hierarchies, imperial and colonial legacies, and North-South inequities. Such structures both shape the material reality of the global security order, and affect knowledge production in the field of security studies itself, including the definition of what is and is not viewed as a legitimate “security issue.” I conclude by asking what a “decolonized” security studies might look like.

Highlights

This essay reflects on the approaches to inclusion and exclusion put forward in this special issue and suggests a more radical alternative: the project of “decolonizing” the field of security studies
I conclude by asking what a “decolonized” security studies might look like
I reflect on the approaches to inclusion and exclusion put forward in this special issue and suggest a more radical alternative: the project of “decolonizing” the field of security studies

Summary

Introduction

As the call for this special issue noted, “[n]otions of exclusion form the backbone of traditional security studies, which is built around protecting “us” against “them” and assumes the existence of an enemy or another hostile aggressor who must be kept at bay.”1 Mainstream approaches to security studies often start with the assumption that it is the borders of the state that define the line between “us” and “them.” In a hostile and anarchic world, states seek to protect their own citizens from external “others.” The articles in this special issue, paint a more nuanced picture of how dynamics of inclusion and exclusion relate to global security, by drawing our attention to issues of: gender (Henshaw 2019; Spindel and Ralston 2019); refugees (Chu 2019); religion (Mateson 2019); nationalism (Valentino and Sagan 2019); and human security (Benzing 2019).

Results

Conclusion