The Globalization Of Security

This volume studies the links among the concepts of globalization, security, and the authority of the nation state, drawing attention to why and how these three concepts are interrelated and why they should be studied together. Contributors explore the connections between security and global transformations, and the corresponding or resulting changes in state structures that emerge. Probing and extending existing paradigms, the book offers three regional cases studies: the periphery states of the Middle East and North Africa, the second world states of the Russian Federation, and the core states of the European Union. It concludes with three chapters that synthesize the above themes to identify corresponding changes in the patterns of international politics.

The Globalization of Security is an important rethinking of the connections between globalization and security, focusing on a conceptual examination of the role of the state combined with key case studies. The book provides a novel historical sociological approach, advancing both the understanding of security and the theory of state power.

The Globalization of Security is an important rethinking of the connections between globalization and security, focusing on a conceptual examination of the role of the state combined with key case studies. The book provides an analysis of the changing nature of security issues through three interlinking ways of conceptualizing the globalization of security: the expansion of the scope of threat, thinking about security in "global" terms, and the development of transnational networks of power. Three cases are examined to provide potential examples of the globalization of security: nuclear weapons and the globalization of threat, the globalization of the arms industry, and the global security aspects of migration and citizenship. The book provides a novel historical sociological approach to the globalization of security, advancing both the understanding of security and the theory of state power in international relations.

In this book, top scholars of international relations assess the consequences of globalization for national security, identifying three distinct ‘processes’ of globalization - the intensification of economic exchange, the flow of information, and marketization (the expansion of the set of social relations governed by market forces)-exploring how they can affect the capacity and power of states as well as conflict within and among them. Though much has been written on the topics of globalization and national security, there has been relatively little in the way of a systematic examination of the impact that globalization has on a state's national security. These essays deal with how state-less actors, such as terrorists, utilize the benefits of globalization, changing the nature of the security game. Failure to account for the influence of globalization will make it increasingly difficult to understand changes in the balance of power, prospects for war, and strategic choices embraced by states.

Globalization, Difference, and Human Security seeks to advance critical human security studies by re-framing the concept of human security in terms of the thematic of difference. Drawing together a wide range of contributors, the volume is framed, among others, around the following key questions: What are the silences and erasures of advancing a critical human security alternative without making recognition of difference its central plank?How do we rethink the complex interplay of human security and difference in distinct and varied spatial and cultural settings produced by global forces? What is the nexus between human security and the broader field of global development? What new challenges to Human Security and International Relations are produced with the rise of the ‘post-liberal’ or ‘post-secular’ subject? In what ways releasing human security from identification with the territorial state helps reconceptualize culture? How does Human Security serve as a subspecies of modern humanitarian thought or the latter reinforce imperial imaginaries and the structures of order and morality? Is the pursuit of indigenous rights fundamentally counterpoised to the pursuit of human security? What difference it might make to take the ‘doings and beings’ of communities-of-subsistence rather than basic-needs/wealth-seeking individuals as a point of departure in critical human security studies? How does reconstruction bind post-war and post-disaster states and societies into the global capitalist-democratic political structure?

This book presents an interdisciplinary examination of cross-Taiwan Strait relations and the complex dynamics at play in the region. Since the election of Ma Ying-jeou as Taiwan’s president in 2008, the relationship across the Taiwan Strait—long viewed as one of Asia’s most volatile potential flashpoints—has experienced a remarkable détente. Whether the relationship has been truly transformed, however, remains an open question and the Taiwan Strait remains a central regional and global security issue. A return to turbulence in the Taiwan Strait could also add a new dimension of instability in the already tense maritime disputes in the East and South China Seas. While the relationship across the Taiwan Strait remains critically important, it is also changing rapidly, and the chapters in this volume present new thinking to help make sense of complex cross-Strait dynamics. Specifically, these essays explore different security and/or globalization dimensions of China-Taiwan ties as well as the globalization-security linkages that have emerged. As the balance of power in Asia shifts dramatically, several chapters in this volume explore how traditional security forces are evolving. At the same time, there are new dynamics emerging as a consequence of globalization forces, such as the tremendous economic and social integration across the Taiwan Strait, and several chapters in this volume consider some of these new problems. Finally, several chapters consider the often under-researched dynamics associated with the globalization/security interface such as cyber threats, transnational criminal networks and the security spill-over impact of production globalization. This book will of much interest to students of Chinese Politics, Asian Security, globalisation, diplomacy and International Relations.

In the past two decades, many have posited a correlation between the spread of globalization and the decline of the nation-state. In the realm of national security, advocates of the globalization thesis have argued that states' power has diminished relative to transnational governmental institutions, NGOs, and transnational capitalism. Initially, they pointed to declines in both global military spending (which has risen dramatically in recent years) and interstate war. But are these trends really indicative of the decline of nation-state's role as a guarantor of national security? In Globalization and the National Security State, T.V. Paul and Norrin M. Ripsman test the proposition against the available evidence and find that the globalization school has largely gotten it wrong. The decline in interstate warfare can largely be attributed to the end of the Cold War, not globalization. Moreover, great powers (the US, China, and Russia) continue to pursue traditional nation-state strategies. Regional security arrangements like the EU and ASEAN have not achieved much, and weak states--the ones most impacted by the turmoil generated by globalization--are far more traditional in their approaches to national security, preferring to rely on their own resources rather than those of regional and transnational institutions. This is a bold argument, and Paul and Ripsman amass a considerable amount of evidence for their claims. It cuts against a major movement in international relations scholarship, and is sure to generate controversy.

Scholars and statesmen have debated the influence of international commerce on war and peace for thousands of years. Over the centuries, analysts have generally treated the questions "Does international commerce influence security?" and "Do trade flows influence security?" as synonymous. In Producing Security, Stephen Brooks maintains that such an overarching focus on the security implications of trade once made sense but no longer does. Trade is no longer the primary means of organizing international economic transactions; rather, where and how multinational corporations (MNCs) organize their international production activities is now the key integrating force of global commerce. MNC strategies have changed in a variety of fundamental ways over the past three decades, Brooks argues, resulting in an increased geographic dispersion of production across borders. The author shows that the globalization of production has led to a series of shifts in the global security environment. It has a differential effect on security relations, in part because it does not encompass all countries and industries to the same extent. The book's findings indicate that the geographic dispersion of MNC production acts as a significant force for peace among the great powers. The author concludes that there is no basis for optimism that the globalization of production will promote peace elsewhere in the world. Indeed, he finds that it has a net negative influence on security relations among developing countries.