European Polyphony Perspectives Beyond East West Confrontation

This study deals with the internal socio-political changes that the traditional political structures have not been able to incorporate, the perspectives of the superpowers and surveys of the debate on European security in each of 11 states. The book begins and ends with a theoretical overview.

The thawing of the Cold War has brought new concerns over the nature of European security to the fore and uncovered major differences in the approaches of individual states to changed circumstances. This book clarifies the options for a new European security order and contribute to the growing debate. It adopts a medium-term analytical approach and uses a three-tier format, covering the nature and structure of security and the security implications of Europe's resurgent nationalism; security strategy, with particular reference to the NATO perspective and to the European Community; and the distinctive security concerns of individual states. It looks at both Eastern and Western Europe and at the Soviet Union and it analyses the role of the United States in European security.The thawing of the Cold War has brought new concerns over the nature of European security to the fore and uncovered major differences in the approaches of individual states to changed circumstances.

This book analyses securitization processes outside of the West, with a focus on Africa. The aim of the volume is to develop an original analytical framework to explain the securitization-neo-patrimonialism dynamics in West Africa, drawing upon insights from securitization theory, sociology and psychology. Among critical voices, securitization has become the gold standard for analysing emerging challenges, such as migration, terrorism, and human security. Yet, despite its broadening agenda, the framework has also been accused of bias, with a Western political context and democratic governance structure at its heart. This book aims to re-conceptualise the framework in a way that suits non-Western contexts better, notably by re-conceptualising the securitization-neopatrimonialism nexus in Africa, which gives us significant new insights into non-Western political contexts. It analyses the securitization processes among the political elites under neo-patrimonial statehood, and further stretches the conceptualisation of securitization into African statehood, which is characterised by a blurred line between the leader and the state. The volume explores the processes of securitizing threats in Liberia, Sierra Leone and wider West Africa, as well as the neo-patrimonial regimes of these states. In doing so, it explores the influence these states’ neo-patrimonial regimes have on the processes of threat securitization. This book will be of much interest to students of critical security studies, African politics and International Relations. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Sets out a comprehensive framework of analysis for security studies, examining the distinctive character and dynamics of security in five sectors: military, political, economic, environmental, and societal. It rejects traditionalists' case for restricting security in one sector, arguing that security is a particular type of politics applicable to a wide range of issues, and offers a constructivist operational method for distinguishing the process of securitization from that of politicization. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Henrik Larsen presents discourse analysis as an alternative approach to foreign policy analysis. Through an extensive empirical study of British and French policies towards Europe in the 1980s, he demonstrates the importance of political discourse in shaping foreign policy. The author discusses key theoretical problems within traditional belief system approaches and proposes an alternative one: political discourse analysis. The theory is illustrated through detailed analyses of British and French discourses on Europe, nation/state security and the nature of international relations.

Placing Eastern Europe in a global context, this provides new perspectives on the political, economic, and cultural transformations of the late twentieth century.

This work covers the period from the end of the Cold War to the end of the century, and specifically addresses the roles of the United States and the Soviet Union, European Community security police, Germany's role as bridge or frontier between East and West and transnational processes.

This book examines the response of the Western Alliance to the Polish Crisis (1980-83). The author analyses the different views of Europe and the United States regarding enforcement in East-West relations and the opposition in Western Europe to the American approach. This case exemplifies the lasting differences in attitude within the Western Alliance.