Suchergebnisse

This text takes issue with arguments that security studies is a discipline of limited use in making sense of the post-Cold War world. It argues that many of the most interesting theoretical issues in international relations can most usefully be studied through a prism labelled ""security studies"". The book combines chapters which provide a variety of critical perspectives on the discipline and address a diverse range of theoretical concerns, with chapters that examine such substantive issues as weapons proliferation and the changing meaning of ""security"" for actors in the erstwhile conflict

A comprehensive and empirically rich set of case studies that examine the impact of socio-cultural influences on multilateral arms control and security-building processes around the world.

In discussions of conflict, war and political violence, dead bodies count. Although the
politics and practices associated with the collection of violent-death data are seldom
subject to critical examination, they are crucial to how scholars and practitioners think
about how and why conflict and violence erupt. Knowledge about conflict deaths – the who,
what, where, when, why and how – is a form of expertise, created, disseminated and used by
different agents. This article highlights the ways in which body counts are deployed as
social facts and forms of knowledge that are used to shape and influence policies and
practices associated with armed conflict. It traces the way in which conflict-death data
emerged, and then examines critically some of the practices and assumptions of data
collection to shed light on how claims to expertise are enacted and on how the public
arena connects (or not) with scholarly conflict expertise.

AbstractEffective civil society activism in the high politics realm of international peace and security has not received sustained scholarly attention, and, at least until recently, was considered a 'hard case,' compared to other issue areas. This article reviews recent civil society efforts and assesses, in a preliminary fashion, some of the preconditions and constraints on transnational civil society activism in a range of security issues, from antipersonnel landmines to antinuclear campaigns. It concludes that high levels of policy uncertainty, the possibility of issue reframing, significant resources, and strategic partnerships are all key ingredients for effective civil society engagement. Conversely, vague or diffuse goals, the absence of state engagement, and policy stovepipes, all stand as obstacles to transnational activism.