Concept of Security
Review of International Studies (1997), 23, 5–26
Copyright © British International Studies Association
The concept of security*
DAV I D A . B A L D W I N
Redefining ‘security’ has recently become something of a cottage industry.1 Most such efforts, however, are more concerned with redefining the policy agendas of nation-states than with the concept of security itself. Often, this takes the form of proposals for giving high priority to such issues as human rights, economics, the environment, drug traffic, epidemics, crime, or social injustice, in addition to the traditional concern with security from external military threats. Such proposals are usually buttressed with a mixture of normative arguments about which values of which people or groups of people should be protected, and empirical arguments as to the nature and magnitude of threats to those values. Relatively little attention is devoted to conceptual issues as such. This article seeks to disentangle the concept of security from these normative and empirical concerns, however legitimate they may be. Cloaking normative and empirical debate in conceptual rhetoric exaggerates the conceptual differences between proponents of various security policies and impedes scholarly communication. Are proponents of economic or environmental security using a concept of security that is fundamentally different from that used by Realists? Or are they simply emphasizing different aspects of a shared concept? Do those who object to ‘privileging’ the nation-state rather than, say, the individual or humanity share any conceptual views with students of ‘national security’? This article attempts to identify common conceptual distinctions underlying various conceptions of security. Identifying the common elements in various conceptions of security is useful in at least three ways: First, it facilitates asking the most basic question of social science,
* The author would like to thank the following scholars for helpful
Copyright © British International Studies Association
The concept of security*
DAV I D A . B A L D W I N
Redefining ‘security’ has recently become something of a cottage industry.1 Most such efforts, however, are more concerned with redefining the policy agendas of nation-states than with the concept of security itself. Often, this takes the form of proposals for giving high priority to such issues as human rights, economics, the environment, drug traffic, epidemics, crime, or social injustice, in addition to the traditional concern with security from external military threats. Such proposals are usually buttressed with a mixture of normative arguments about which values of which people or groups of people should be protected, and empirical arguments as to the nature and magnitude of threats to those values. Relatively little attention is devoted to conceptual issues as such. This article seeks to disentangle the concept of security from these normative and empirical concerns, however legitimate they may be. Cloaking normative and empirical debate in conceptual rhetoric exaggerates the conceptual differences between proponents of various security policies and impedes scholarly communication. Are proponents of economic or environmental security using a concept of security that is fundamentally different from that used by Realists? Or are they simply emphasizing different aspects of a shared concept? Do those who object to ‘privileging’ the nation-state rather than, say, the individual or humanity share any conceptual views with students of ‘national security’? This article attempts to identify common conceptual distinctions underlying various conceptions of security. Identifying the common elements in various conceptions of security is useful in at least three ways: First, it facilitates asking the most basic question of social science,
* The author would like to thank the following scholars for helpful