The Evolution of International Security Studies

Barry Buzan author Lene Hansen author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:27th Aug '09

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The Evolution of International Security Studies cover

The first intellectual history of International Security Studies since 1945, providing an unparalleled survey for students and scholars.

Barry Buzan and Lene Hansen offer the first intellectual history of the development of International Security Studies (ISS). They provide an unparalleled survey of the literature, show how and why ISS evolved, and give an authoritative account of debates on all the main topics within ISS since 1945.International Security Studies (ISS) has changed and diversified in many ways since 1945. This book provides the first intellectual history of the development of the subject in that period. It explains how ISS evolved from an initial concern with the strategic consequences of superpower rivalry and nuclear weapons, to its current diversity in which environmental, economic, human and other securities sit alongside military security, and in which approaches ranging from traditional Realist analysis to Feminism and Post-colonialism are in play. It sets out the driving forces that shaped debates in ISS, shows what makes ISS a single conversation across its diversity, and gives an authoritative account of debates on all the main topics within ISS. This is an unparalleled survey of the literature and institutions of ISS that will be an invaluable guide for all students and scholars of ISS, whether traditionalist, 'new agenda' or critical.

'A rich text drawing on an extraordinarily wide range of materials to answer key questions in the debate on international security in the contemporary academic world: what should be part of International Security Studies, what should not, and why? This is a volume that will provoke enormous debate wherever international security is researched and taught, and is sure to become a keynote contribution to the literature.' Stuart Croft, Professor of International Security, Warwick University
'The Evolution of International Security Studies takes an amazing intellectual journey around the rich, variegated and sometimes surprising stories about security that IR - all of it! - tells. An astonishing achievement.' Christine Sylvester, Lancaster University
'The Evolution of International Security Studies is more than a comprehensive survey of a vast and contentious body of thought; it is also a lucid and insightful analysis of the forces that have shaped the field and the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. Buzan and Hansen are scrupulously fair-minded and their book is a model of clear and elegant exposition. It will be of enormous value to students and of considerable interest to established scholars as well.' Stephen M. Walt, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
'In this important new contribution to International Security Studies (ISS), Barry Buzan and Lene Hansen provide the field's first disciplinary history. … a thoroughly comprehensive, unerringly balanced and sophisticatedly argued account of ISS that is essential reading for newcomers and old hands alike.' International Affairs
'… a scholarly inquiry … A key merit of this excellent book is its ambition to leave no corner of the vast field of security studies unexplored … the book provides a well-structured description of the evolving priorities of security studies …' Survival

ISBN: 9780521694223

Dimensions: 228mm x 152mm x 18mm

Weight: 640g

398 pages