New and Critical Security and Regionalism: Beyond the Nation State (The International Political Economy of New Regionalisms Series)

The classical definition of security studies is the study of the threat, use and control of military force. This edited volume challenges the once conventional definition of security and the systemic theories grounded in neorealism and social constructivism. In particular, it addresses the privileged place of the state in traditional security studies. The book also, however, confronts the claim made by the traditional security studies school that expanding the discipline destroys its intellectual coherence. The response rests in Williams and Krause's suggestion that at the heart of much critical theory there must be a new referent and an actor in the "globalizing and fragmenting world." This contribution to the fields of international relations, international security, development studies, and area studies is appropriate for upper undergraduate and graduate in the aforementioned areas.