What is real? What can we know? How might we act? This book sets out to answer these fundamental philosophical questions in a radical and original theory of security for our times. Arguing that the concept of security in world politics has long been imprisoned by conservative thinking, Ken Booth explores security as a precious instrumental value which gives individuals and groups the opportunity to pursue the invention of humanity rather than live determined and diminished lives. Booth suggests that human society globally is facing a set of converging historical crises. He looks to critical social theory and radical international theory to develop a comprehensive framework for understanding the historical challenges facing global business-as-usual and for planning to reconstruct a more cosmopolitan future. Theory of World Security is a challenge both to well-established ways of thinking about security and alternative approaches within critical security studies.
Author(s): Ken Booth
Series: Cambridge Studies in International Relations
Edition: 1
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 516
Tags: Международные отношения;Международные отношения;Теория международных отношений;
Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Series-title......Page 5
Title......Page 7
Copyright......Page 8
Dedication......Page 9
Contents......Page 11
Preface......Page 14
Acknowledgements......Page 16
Introduction......Page 21
Part I Context......Page 29
1 Present imperfect: future tense......Page 31
Seeing but not seeing......Page 32
Sanity without sense......Page 41
Ceaseless exploration......Page 47
The prisms and prison of realism......Page 51
2 Thinking theory critically......Page 57
Critical global theorising......Page 58
Perlenfischerei I: critical theory......Page 60
The Frankfurt school......Page 61
The Gramscian tradition......Page 65
Key ideas......Page 68
The legacy of Marx......Page 69
Key ideas......Page 73
Critical international relations theory......Page 74
Perlenfischerei II: radical international theory......Page 78
The World Order school......Page 79
Key ideas......Page 83
Peace studies/peace research......Page 84
Key ideas......Page 88
Feminist theorising......Page 89
Historical sociology......Page 95
Key ideas......Page 99
Social idealism......Page 100
Emancipatory realism......Page 107
Why is a critical theory of security necessary?......Page 108
Why ‘emancipatory realism’?......Page 110
Part II Theory......Page 113
Security beyond survival......Page 115
1. Insecurity is a life-determining condition......Page 121
2. Security is an instrumental value......Page 125
3. Security is a powerful political word......Page 128
4. Security is a derivative concept......Page 129
Emancipation and ideals......Page 130
Enlightenment versus totalitarianism......Page 136
Two cheers for progress......Page 144
1. Even if progress in the past has sometimes been associated with hubris, it does not follow that the concept is fundamentally flawed......Page 145
2. It is possible to talk of moral progress......Page 147
3. Societies must have an idea of the ideal......Page 150
5. What is needed is more enlightenment, not its rejection......Page 152
1. Community is a fuzzy word......Page 154
2. Community is a politicised concept......Page 156
4 Deepening, broadening, reconstructing......Page 169
Security as a derivative concept......Page 170
Marxism......Page 175
Racism......Page 176
Security as society’s agenda......Page 180
Security as political practice......Page 192
What is real?......Page 202
What can we know?......Page 212
How might we act?......Page 218
Ordering reality......Page 226
Transcendental theory......Page 229
Biology is freedom......Page 230
What is is human sociality......Page 232
Cognition is first......Page 235
History is made up as we go along......Page 239
Was does not equal is or will be......Page 241
To be human is to make meaning......Page 243
The individual is the ultimate referent......Page 245
Reality is holistic......Page 248
Pure theory......Page 250
Truth is indispensable yet inaccessible......Page 251
An anchorage is the securest basis for knowledge......Page 254
Critical distance is truer than objectivity......Page 256
Knowledge has interests......Page 258
Power and knowledge are related, though not simply......Page 260
Problem-solving theory replicates, critical theory emancipates......Page 262
Positivism is problematic, empirical enquiry critical......Page 264
Theory is constitutive......Page 267
Practical theory......Page 269
This is not the best of all possible worlds......Page 270
A better world is a process not an end-point......Page 271
Means are ends......Page 273
Emancipation is the politics of inventing humanity......Page 276
Politics is the sphere of freedom......Page 281
There is nothing so practical as a good theory......Page 284
Community is the site of security......Page 288
Equality is the condition for humanity......Page 293
The pull of the world......Page 297
Part III Dimensions......Page 299
7 Business-as-usual......Page 301
The ‘cracked looking-glass’......Page 302
Are we all Americans now?......Page 309
Is Clausewitz still relevant?......Page 325
Is human security possible?......Page 341
Can nature survive?......Page 347
Regarding pain......Page 357
Promoting equality......Page 367
1. The reduction of ‘unjustifiable inequalities’......Page 370
2. The provision of egalitarian capabilities......Page 371
Humanising globalisation......Page 380
1. The intellectual challenge......Page 396
3. The spiritual challenge......Page 397
Inventing humanity......Page 398
1. Ethics......Page 403
2. Epistemology......Page 405
3. Politics......Page 406
Part IV Futures......Page 413
9 The New Twenty Years’ Crisis......Page 415
The Great Reckoning......Page 416
Epochal crisis......Page 418
Structural crisis......Page 421
Decisional crisis......Page 423
1. Security dilemmas and strategic challenges......Page 424
2. Globalisation threats......Page 427
3. Population stress......Page 428
4. The destroying of nature......Page 429
5. Governance overload......Page 433
6. A season of unreason......Page 436
Remember us?......Page 439
10 A long hot century......Page 447
Means /ends......Page 448
1. Political violence......Page 449
2. Democracy......Page 452
3. Law......Page 454
4. Human rights......Page 457
5. Out of/into Africa......Page 458
Beliefs and norms......Page 461
‘The odd thing about assassins’......Page 473
Daylight?......Page 485
Index......Page 491
Cambridge studies in international relations......Page 510
