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Security After September 11: a Comment No. 23 The Concept of Security Before and After September 11 a. The Contested Concept of Security by Steve Smith b. Security and Security Studies After September 11: Some Preliminary Reflections by Amitav Acharya Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies Singapore MAY 2002 With Compliments This Working Paper series presents papers in a preliminary form and serves to stimulate comment and discussion. The views expressed are entirely the author(s)’ own and not that of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies. The Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS) was established in July 1996 as an autonomous research institute within the Nanyang Technological University. Its objectives are to: • Conduct research on security, strategic and international issues. • Provide general and graduate education in strategic studies, international relations, defence management and defence technology. • Promote joint and exchange programmes with similar regional and international institutions; organise seminars/conferences on topics salient to the strategic and policy communities of the Asia-Pacific. Research Through its Working Paper Series, IDSS Commentaries and other publications, the Institute seeks to share its research findings with the strategic studies and defence policy communities. The Institute’s researchers are also encouraged to publish their writings in refereed journals. The focus of research is on issues relating to the security and stability of the Asia-Pacific region and their implications for Singapore and other countries in the region. A Chaired Professorship, the S. Rajaratnam Professorship in Strategic Studies (named after Singapore’s first Foreign Minister), has been established to bring distinguished scholars to participate in the work of the Institute. Previous holders of the Chair include Professor Stephen Walt (Evron M. and Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Professor of International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA), Professor Jack Snyder (Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Relations, Institute of War and Peace Studies, Political Science Department, Columbia University) and Professor Wang Jisi (Senior Researcher and Director, Institute of American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences). A Visiting Research Fellow Programme also enables overseas scholars to carry out related research in the Institute. Teaching The Institute provides educational opportunities at an advanced level to professionals from both the private and public sectors in Singapore and overseas through the Master of Science in Strategic Studies and Master of Science in International Relations programmes. These are full-time courses conducted by an international faculty from July - June each year. The Institute also offers a PhD programme in Strategic Studies and International Relations. Besides the graduate programmes, the Institute conducts courses on geopolitics and regional issues at the SAFTI Military Institute (Officer Cadet School, Advanced Officers’ School and the Singapore Command and Staff College), the SAF Warrant Officers’ School, as well as the Defence and Foreign Ministries. The Institute also runs a one-semester course on The International Relations of the Asia Pacific for undergraduates in NTU. Networking The Institute convenes workshops, seminars and colloquia on aspects of international relations and security development which are of contemporary and historical significance. Highlights of the Institute’s activities include a regular Colloquium on Strategic Trends in the 21st Century, the annual Asia Pacific Programme for Senior Military Officers and the biennial Asia Pacific Security Conference (held in conjunction with Asian Aerospace). Institute staff participate in Track II security dialogues and scholarly conferences in the Asia-Pacific. The Institute has contacts and collaborations with many think-tanks and research institutes in Asia, Europe and the United States. The Institute has also participated in research projects funded by the Ford Foundation and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. The Institute also serves as the Secretariat for the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia- Pacific, (CSCAP) Singapore. Through these activities, the Institute aims to develop and nurture a network of researchers whose collaborative efforts will yield new insights into security issues of interest to Singapore and the region. i ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS (1) The Contested Concept of Security Steve Smith The main theme underlying this paper is the contention that ‘security’ is “an essentially contested concept”. The article attempts an overview of the current debates shaping the sub- field of ‘security studies’. Six main ‘schools of thought’ are examined in turn to demonstrate how each of these ‘schools’ challenge and contest the traditional agenda of ‘security studies’ by attempting to both widen and deepen the concept of ‘security’. The last section concludes by examining the value of engaging in such debates on widening and deepening the term ‘security’ for international politics in our present age. (2) Security and Security Studies After September 11: Some Preliminary Reflections Amitav Acharya Debates about the meaning of security and the agenda of security studies have entered a new stage following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US. This paper explores some of the main themes and likely directions in this debate. It identifies five issues: (1) the new threat of, and the new warfare against, terrorism; (2) US strategic primacy and its impact on international stability; (3) implications for “clash of civilizations” thesis; (4) implications for the relationship between democracy and international security, and (5) the shift from “human security” to “homeland security”. The paper argues that the new threat of transnational terrorism and international responses to it have undermined both “clash of civilizations” and “end of history” perspectives, which together formed one of the great debates in international security studies in the post-Cold War era. The new security debate in the post September 11 era should be about the role of the US in a unipolar world (especially whether and how it can be stabilizing), and the rise of the “homeland security” paradigm, which entails a reassertion of state power over societal forces and blurs the distinction between Western and Third World security paradigms. ii BIOGRAPHIES OF AUTHORS Steve Smith Steve Smith is Pro Vice Chancellor (Academic Affairs) and Professor of International Politics at the University of Wales Aberystwyth. From 1 October 2002 he will be Vice Chancellor of the University of Exeter. He has recently been elected to be President of the International Studies Association in 2003-2004. He is the author of some 80 academic papers and chapters in major international journals and edited collections, and he is the author/editor of 13 books, including (with Martin Hollis) Explaining and Understanding International Relations (OUP, 1990), (edited with Ken Booth) International Relations Theory Today (Polity/Penn State, 1995), (edited with Ken Booth and Marysia Zalewski) International Theory: Positivism and Beyond (CUP, 1996) and (edited with John Baylis) The Globalization of World Politics (OUP, 1997, second edition, 2001). Amitav Acharya Professor Amitav Acharya is Deputy Director and Head of Research at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, where he also holds a professorship. Prior to this appointment, he was Professor of Political Science at York University, Toronto, and Fellow of the Center for Business and Government at the John F. Kennedy School of government, Harvard University. He has been a Fellow of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, and a Fellow of the Harvard University Asia Center; and taught at the National University of Singapore, Sydney University, and Nanyang Technological University. Acharya has written extensively on Asia Pacific security issues. Among his latest publications are: The Quest for Identity: International Relations of Southeast Asia (Oxford, 2000), Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia: ASEAN and the Problem of Regional Order (London and New York: Routledge, 2001), and Regionalism and Multilateralism: Essays in Cooperative Security in the Asia Pacific (Singapore: Times Academic Press, 2001). He is currently a Senior Fellow of the Asia Pacific Policy Program of the John F. Kennedy School of government and a member of the Eminent Persons/Expert Group of the ASEAN Regional Forum. iii THE CONTESTED CONCEPT OF SECURITY Steve Smith Introduction In an influential article published nearly fifty years ago, W.B. Gallie introduced the notion that certain terms used in social theory are, as he put it, essentially contested concepts.1 By this phrase Gallie does not simply mean that it is difficult to agree on a definition of a concept, but that there are some concepts whose meaning is inherently a matter of dispute because no neutral definition is possible. So, I believe, it is with the concept of security and what I want to do in this paper is to outline and assess the main ‘schools of thought’ concerning the meaning of the term. I have opted to look at six main ‘schools of thought’ in the debates about the meaning of the concept of security. These six schools are those involved in broadening and deepening the concept and therefore I am going to concentrate on these. In the conclusion, I will return to the relationship between broadening
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