Florian Kühn

This lecture looks at classical perspectives on war and what causes it. Revisiting different, often mutually exclusive views on cooperation and confrontation, on international structure and the role of power, as well as the role of military defence, the lecture then introduces Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT). RSCT is advancing securitization theory to explain how regional perspections of threat and security concerns are constructed and feed into security dynamics. We will base our simulation game (28/2) on Regional Security Complexes, so it is absolutely vital that you read the mandatory literature to be able to 'play' in the simulation (in particular 'Regions & Powers').

Make sure to discuss the security priorities of 'your' country with your group; countries will be assigned two weeks in advance, and the simulation instructions will be circulated around the same time.

Mandatory readings:

Buzan, Barry and Ole Wæver: Regions and Powers. Cambridge: Cambridge UP 2003, Chptrs 2 & 3 (pp. 27-92).
Buzan, Barry & Ole Wæver & Jaap de Wilde 1998. Security: A New Framework for Analysis. Boulder/CO: Lynne Rienner: 21-82.
Wæver, Ole (1995): Securitization and Descuritization; in: Lipschutz, Ronnie D. (Ed.): On Security; New York: Columbia UP, pp. 46-86.
Balzacq, Thierry 2019. Securitization Theory: Past, Present, and Future. Polity 51(2): 331-348.