Security Studies: Critical Perspectives

The only introduction to critical security studies to take a question-centred approach, with a unique emphasis on equipping students with the knowledge and skills to think, analyse, and debate using critical perspectives. Security Studies: Critical Perspectives introduces the analysis of security from critical and interdisciplinary perspectives. Taking a student-centred approach to understanding contemporary security themes and cases, it provides an accessible set of analytic steps so that students develop the critical thinking skills and confidence to ask important questions about security and our worlds in contemporary politics. Common-sense security assumptions that reproduce forms of oppression and domination are revealed and their justifications decentred while perspectives inclusive of class, gender and sexualities, ethnicity and race, religion, disability, culture and ideology, political belonging, and the global south are introduced. In doing so, the authors combine critical analysis with concrete empirical issues that connect students to the social and political worlds around them. Five foundation chapters introducing students to key concepts and methodologies Fifteen thematic chapters, written by leading security analysts exploring key themes in security Detailed illustrative cases for each thematic chapter Accessible short introductions, in the online resources, to some of the major theoretical approaches in critical security studies Online resources Extensive cross-references to encourage students to link elements, draw connections and identify similar logics, questions, and approaches. Digital formats and resources Security Studies: Critical Perspectives is available for students and institutions to purchase in a variety of formats, and is supported by online resources. USBLThe e-book offers a mobile experience and convenient access along with additional case studies, introductions to theoretical approaches, a bank of useful web links, and questions for further reflection.BEUE

Table of Contents:
Approaching security critically 1: Xavier Guillaume and Kyle Grayson: What is critique? 2: Xavier Guillaume and Kyle Grayson: Security 3: Xavier Guillaume and Kyle Grayson: Orders, power and hierarchies 4: Xavier Guillaume and Kyle Grayson: Political violence 5: Xavier Guillaume and Kyle Grayson: Critical Questions Key Themes in Security Studies 6: Cédric Moreau de Bellaing: Policing 7: Victoria Basham: War and socio-political orders 8: Christian Olsson: Terrorism and asymmetric conflicts Security as Identity 9: Melody Fonseca Santos: Identity and othering 10: Jennifer Hobbs and Laura McLeod: Gender and sexuality 11: Philippe M. Frowd: Nationalism, racism and xenophobia Security as Political Economy 12: Maria Stern: Securing development, developing security? 13: Sara E. Davies and Jessica Kirk: Health 14: Caitlin Ryan: Property, extraction and accumulation Security as Technology 15: Rocco Bellanova: Digital, (in)security and violence 16: Mark Lacy: Security and design 17: Michael Bourne: Weapon-systems Security as Space 18: Madeleine Fagan: Environment 19: Benjamin J. Muller: Borders and mobility 20: Anna Schliehe: Prisons and Camps

About the Author :
Xavier Guillaume is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands and has also taught at the Université de Genève, the University of Edinburgh and Sciences Po Paris. A citizen of Geneva, Switzerland, Xavier was born and raised in Geneva's suburbs by a working poor, divorced mother. Xavier specialises in security and international issues connected to the mundane ways by which people constitute their identities in relation to others, the state, or to other international actors. Kyle Grayson is the Head of the School of Geography, Politics, and Sociology at Newcastle University UK and Professor of Security, Politics, and Culture. A Canadian-British dual-national, he was born and raised on the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. He is the third successive generation in his family to have migrated for economic reasons. Currently, he is Co-Editor in Chief of the academic journal International Political Sociology and Vice-Chair of the British International Studies Association.

Review :
I have been waiting for a long time for an introduction to security studies that provides a clear set of tools for critically analysing security as a political practice with consequences for living in common. Xavier Guillaume and Kyle Grayson have delivered just that. Security Studies: Critical Perspectives is a fantastic teaching resource that will help students and scholars to methodically interrogate the bewildering multiplicity of security registers and issues today. This is a sophisticated new textbook that approaches students as fellow thinkers. The content is designed to help the students develop their critical thinking skills and be able to offer their own independent analysis of developing events. Highly recommended as an introduction to the politics of security in its multiple facets. Essential reading for anyone looking for a guide that helps them choose their own routes to navigate a sea of insecurity. Routes that lead us to new questions and, contrary to those of colonial navigation, that challenge the inevitability of violence and inequalities which are routinely authorized in the name of security for the few. Security Studies: Critical Perspectives unpacks the politics of security with finesse. It debunks the conventional understanding of security, unsettles the predominant narratives, enables the readers to raise profound questions, and offers a holistic treatise anchored in critical insights. Lucidly written, elegantly articulated and effectively communicated, the book is a must-read for all those who are grappling with the critical interpretations of security. This is an innovative and comprehensive introduction to the field, asking important critical questions about security. An excellent introductory resource for students who are fresh to the field of critical security studies, focusing on a wide range of cases and topics that together encourage a more nuanced understanding of security in today's complex global environment.