SECURITY - The Concept According to Barry Buzan

Summary

In this talk, Barry Buzan, a professor at LSE, discusses his work on the concept of security. He explores how security threats are socially constructed rather than solely based on objective dangers, such as military threats. Buzan highlights examples like the Cold War's de-securitization and the contested nature of issues like terrorism and climate change. He also touches on how certain threats, like asteroids, are not widely securitized despite statistical risks. His focus is on analyzing how societies decide what constitutes a threat and the political processes behind these decisions.

Takeaways

• 📚 Barry Buzan is a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics (LSE), with a strong academic background including a PhD from LSE and a teaching career at UBC and Warwick.
• 🛡️ His primary work has been on the theoretical aspects of security, especially focusing on the concept of security and its broad definitions.
• 📖 Buzan wrote one of the first books on the concept of security, noting that while other social concepts like justice and love had ample literature, security did not.
• 🔍 He explores both the objective and socially constructed aspects of security, emphasizing how societies perceive and label certain things as threats.
• ⚖️ Security threats are not always objective; societal perceptions can lead to paranoia (seeing threats that aren't real) or complacency (ignoring real threats).
• 🛑 Buzan highlights the process of 'securitization'—how something is designated as a security issue, who defines it, and how it's accepted or rejected by society.
• 🌍 Post-Cold War, the security agenda broadened, moving beyond military threats to include societal, environmental, and economic issues.
• 💡 Buzan argues that security isn't necessarily tied to military matters. Security issues arise when there is an existential threat to something a society values, requiring emergency measures.
• 🚨 He is interested in 'de-securitization,' where perceived threats, like the Cold War, are dismantled and no longer seen as urgent security issues.
• 🌠 Buzan uses the example of asteroids hitting the Earth as an 'objective threat' that hasn’t been securitized, contrasting it with other constructed threats like terrorism.

Q & A

Who is Barry Buzan, and what is his professional background?

Barry Buzan is a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics (LSE). He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of British Columbia and earned his PhD at LSE. He has taught at UBC and Warwick before returning to LSE.

What has Barry Buzan's academic work primarily focused on?

Barry Buzan's academic work has primarily focused on the theoretical side of security, particularly the concept of security itself and how it is constructed and understood in both traditional and constructivist contexts.

What was Buzan's contribution to the literature on security studies?

Buzan claims to have written one of the first books focused on the concept of security, filling a gap in the literature. While other social concepts like justice or love had extensive discussions, security lacked such focused treatment before his work.

How does Buzan's approach to security differ from traditional views?

Buzan takes a more constructivist approach to security, emphasizing that threats are not always objective. Instead, they are socially constructed, meaning that societies or groups can perceive threats differently, depending on social, political, and cultural factors.

What is the significance of 'securitization' in Buzan's analysis?

Securitization refers to the process by which issues are framed and accepted as security threats. According to Buzan, it's crucial to understand how actors (e.g., governments) designate something as a threat and how societies come to accept or reject these designations.

Can you provide an example Buzan uses to illustrate the concept of de-securitization?

Buzan uses the end of the Cold War as an example of de-securitization. The Cold War was a highly securitized period where the Soviet Union was seen as a significant threat, but within a few years, the threat perception diminished, leading to the collapse of that security narrative.

What changes in the security agenda does Buzan highlight after the Cold War?

After the Cold War, the traditional military security agenda became less prominent. Issues like societal security, identity, nationalism, religion, economic security, and environmental security gained more attention in the broader security discourse.

How does Buzan differentiate between military actions and security issues?

Buzan argues that not all military actions are security issues. For example, Denmark sending peacekeepers to Bosnia is part of their foreign policy, not a security issue for Denmark itself. Security issues, for Buzan, involve existential threats and call for emergency measures.

What role do political actors play in the securitization process, according to Buzan?

Political actors, especially state leaders, play a privileged role in the securitization process, as they often have the authority to designate threats. However, their securitizations can be contested, as seen in the case of the Vietnam War or the Iraq War.

What example does Buzan provide to show the gap between objective threats and what gets securitized?

Buzan gives the example of asteroids crashing into Earth. While there is significant scientific evidence of this potential threat, it has not been widely securitized, despite the real risk. In contrast, less pressing issues sometimes receive more attention as security threats.