Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security by Barry s> Buzan Ole Wæver (review)

Abstract

i66 SEER, 83, I, 2005 or, as is more often the case, on legends such as the Battle of Kosovo for the Serbs, plays a central part in the creation of a military ethos in most of the Balkan states, but more so in those that have just achieved or regained their full statehood. Nevertheless, the book's emphasis on militarytraditionmeans that at times the authorsfail to show how they measuredthe true extent of its importance. The chapter on the FederalRepublic of Yugoslaviacontains an extended account of the Battle of Kosovo, although its relevance to today's militaryethos remainsunclear. This is particularlyunfortunatefor the reader since the link between Milosevic and the Yugoslav Army (VJ) top brass is identifiedin the commentary as being due to theirjoint responsibilityfor the commission of war crimes. The authors do not go far enough in explaining the central role war crimes played in Milosevic's strategy during the I99os, however, and hence the importance of dealing with such a legacy in democratizingcivil-militaryrelationsin Serbiaand Montenegro. It is a pity that this otherwiseexcellent overview is undermined by such limitations of analysis. This is partly due to the number of case studies the authorsincorporateinto the book, studieswhich could alsohave been brought togethermore successfullyto reinforcethe finalchapter'sarguments.Significantly , too, the exclusion of Bosnia-Herzegovina leaves quite a gap. The justificationforthisis providedin a footnote, in which they statethat Bosniais simply too complicated to consider, but a more complete and credible explanation is needed. Although Bosnia's civil-military relations are more complicated due to the existence (untilrecently)of three separateforces, and the unique role played by the international community through SFOR and the OfficeoftheHigh Representative,itisneverthelessimportantto setitin the same context as otherYugoslavsuccessorstatesand to explore the role played by the contested nature of its polity in the transformationof civil-military relations. Overall, the book is a useful introduction to the state of civil-military relationsin the Balkans.It providesa valuable commentaryon the conditions which initiated the transformation of civil-military relations in the region along with some of its early achievements, and a glimpse of its potential obstacles. Department of WarStudies IVAN ZVERZHANOVSKI King's College London Buzan, Barryand Waever,Ole. Regions andPowers.TheStructure ofInternational Security. Cambridge Studies in International Relations, 9I. Cambridge UniversityPress,Cambridge,2003. xxvi + 564 pp. Glossary.References. News media. Index of names. Generalindex. [21 .95: $33.00. SECURITIZATION theory and the sectoral approach developed by the Copenhagen School in the past decade-and-a-halfhave become establishedfeatures of securityanalysis.'Sectoral'thinkingtranspiresfromthe securitydocuments of all European security organizations, for example, and can be read in the security doctrines of states and internationalorganizations alike. Buzan and Waever'smost recent cooperative endeavour is intended as a complement to REVIEWS I67 their I998 volume, Security, aFrameworkforAnalysis (Boulder,CO, I998), which offers the most comprehensive treatment of securitization and the sectoral approachto security.The argumentof thisbookpicksup whereSecurity ended. Central to the argument of Regionsand Powersis the assertion that the transformationof global structurefrom bipolarity (or '2 + 3') to unipolarity (or 'I +4') has had a different impact in different regions where distinctive securitydynamicscan be seen at work.This is reflectedin the structureof the volume, which in itsfirstpartdevelops'aregionalapproachto globalsecurity', while parts two to five are dedicated to the analysisof four regions:Asia, the Middle Eastand Africa,the Americas,and 'the Europes'. Conceptually,thevolume'sfocuson theregionallevel of analysisisintended as a responseto global-systemicaccountsof security,which the authorsdivide rather artificiallyinto 'neorealist' and 'globalist'. Buzan and Waver use the concept of securitycomplex (developedby Buzan in his earlierwork),with the aim of formulating a theory of regional security. This theory makes an ambitious attempt to straddle neorealism whose structuraland systemic take on security is closely mirrored and constructivism, present in the concept of securitizationand in the conceptualizationof regions and regional security complexes (RSCs). In order to demonstrate the relevance of the regional level, the authorsuse a taxonomy of 'powers' superpowers,great powers and regional powers which allows both reading the current internationalsystem as a 'I + 4' structure,and identifyingthe specificityof a RSC. Regional security complexes 'are regions as seen though the lens of security'(pp. 43-44), and are defined by two elements:a) patternsof amity/ enmity, and b) power relations, which are themselves derived 'from the...