About the Book
At a time of grave ethical failure in global security affairs, this is the first book to bring together emerging theoretical debates on ethics and ethical reasoning within security studies.
In this volume, working from a diverse range of perspectives—poststructuralism, liberalism, feminism, just war, securitization, and critical theory—leading scholars in the field of security studies consider the potential for ethical visions of security, and lay the ground for a new field: "ethical security studies".
These ethical ‘visions’ of security engage directly with the meaning and value of security and security practice, and consider four key questions:
Who, or what, should be secured?
What are the fundamental grounds and commitments of different security ethics?
Who or what are the most legitimate agents, providers or speakers of security?
What do ethical security practices look like? What ethical principles, arguments, or procedures, will generate and guide ethical security practices?
Informed by a rich understanding of the intellectual and historical experience of security, the contributors advance innovative methodological, analytical, political and ethical arguments that represent the cutting edge of the field. This book opens a new phase of collaboration and growth that promises to have great benefits for the more humane, effective and ethical practice of security politics.
This book will be of much interest to students of critical security studies, ethics, philosophy, and international relations.
Table of Contents:
Introduction: Imagining Ethical Security Studies, Jonna Nyman and Anthony Burke Part I: Foundations of Ethical Security 1. Security: Critique, Analysis and Ethics, Vivienne Jabri 2. Whose Security? Ethics and the Referent, Matt McDonald 3. World Security: Toward a ‘Local’ Research Agenda, Ali Bilgiç 4. Posthuman Security/Ethics, Audra Mitchell Part II: Visions and Debate 5. The Promise of Theories of Just Securitization, Rita Floyd 6. Security, Emancipation and the Ethics of Vulnerability, João Nunes 7. The Promise and Dangers of Human Security, Annick Wibben 8. Feminist Care Ethics and Everyday Insecurities, Fiona Robinson 9. Pragmatism, Practice and the Value of Security, Jonna Nyman 10. The Ethical Sources of Security Cosmopolitanism, Anthony Burke 11. Ethics and Ontological Security, Christopher Browning 12. War, Ethics and the Individual, Helen Dexter 13. The Decolonial Option: Toward an Ethic of Self-Securing, Priya Chacko 14. Ethical Security Studies: Activism, Resistance and Security, Chris Rossdale Conclusion: Security as Ethics: An Orthogonal Rotation from Egoism to Compassion,
About the Author :
Jonna Nyman is a Teaching Fellow in International Relations at the University of Leicester, UK.
Anthony Burke is Associate Professor/Reader of Politics and International Relations at UNSW Australia. He is author or editor of six books, including Beyond Security, Ethics and Violence (Routledge, 2007) and Ethics and Global Security (Routledge, 2014).
Review :
‘The ethics of security represent one of the crucial issues of our time. This sophisticated, challenging and wide-ranging collection demonstrates the theoretical challenges and practical value of placing ethical questions at the center of security, as well as the pressing need to do so. Through a critical and pluralistic interrogation of complex contemporary relationships, it represents a powerful call for ethical security studies.’ -- Michael C. Williams, University of Ottawa, Canada
‘Ethical Security Studies develops an ambitious and multi-faceted discussion of the heterogeneous intersections between discursive formations of security and ethics. The contributions challenge us to take seriously a range of perspectives, from anti-security and posthuman security to emancipatory security or security cosmopolitanism. The book will reinvigorate debates about the analytical and political concepts deployed in critical security studies.’ -- Claudia Aradau, King’s College London, UK
'Within this powerful collection, Nyman and Burke reorient security studies back to its core ethical reasoning and set out a bold new mode for engagement.' -- Mark B. Salter, University of Ottawa, Canada
