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Medicine, Conflict and Survival
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Contemporary Security Studies
Benjamin Zala
a
a
University of Birmingham and Oxford Research
Group , UK
Published online: 08 Dec 2010.
To cite this article: Benjamin Zala (2010) Contemporary Security Studies, Medicine,
Conflict and Survival, 26:4, 314-315, DOI: 10.1080/13623699.2010.535393
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13623699.2010.535393
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BOOK REVIEWS
Contemporary Security Studies 2
nd
edition, by Alan Collins, editor, Oxford
& New York: Oxford University Press, 2010, 542pp., 26.99 (paperback),
ISBN 978-0-19-954885-9.
In closing his monumental study of 2002, The Shield of Achilles, Philip
Bobbitt declared, We are entering a fearful time, a time that will call on all
our resources, moral as well as intellectual and material.* Without deferring
to alarmism and scare-mongering there is, nevertheless, mounting evidence
that we are entering a period of profound insecurity a truly fearful time.
The extreme limits of industrialized growth, the marginalization of the
majority world and militarized responses to conict are converging in an
international system that has never been as connected and interdependent as
it is today. If Bobbitt is right and such times call on our intellectual
resources like never before, then the second edition of Alan Collins
impressive textbook on security studies could not be timelier.
In fact, the book is not so much a primer on studying the provision of
security as the careful analysis of the causes and manifestations of insecurity.
As in the previous edition, Collins has divided the book into three sections:
approaches to security, deepening and broadening security, and traditional and
non-traditional security. Within this structure he has gathered an impressive
array of talented scholars to provide introductions to each topic, a summary of
the main controversies and debates that characterize the academic literature as
well as the popular discourse and a set of study questions and suggestions for
further reading. Seven new chapters have been added to this edition across the
three sections. Particularly welcome are the additions of Christine Agius
theoretical chapter on social constructivism, Nana Pokus chapter on
globalization, development and security (which works well to complement
Pauline Kerrs existing chapter on human security), and a specic chapter on
energy security by Sam Raphael and Doug Stokes.
Other standout contributions which rise to Bobbitts challenge include
Jon Barnetts insightful chapter on environmental security and Paul Rogers
discussion of the evolution of the sub-discipline of peace studies. Barnett
manages to navigate the conceptual debates involved in taking environ-
mental stresses and degradation seriously as a security issue, whilst still
*Bobbitt, P., The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace and the Course of History. London:
Allen Lane; 2002: 822.
Medicine, Conict and Survival
Vol. 26, No. 4, OctoberDecember 2010, 314319
ISSN 1362-3699 print/ISSN 1743-9396 online
DOI: 10.1080/13623699.2010.535393
http://www.informaworld.com
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presenting the reader with a clear and up to date summary of the position of
environmental security in mainstream political debates. His closing line is
particularly astute: the relevance of environmental security will most
probably increase until such time as truly common and cooperative
approaches implement serious reforms to achieve forms of social organiza-
tion that are ecologically sustainable (p. 237). Rogers strikes the right
balance between disciplinary history (with an excellent section on the war
on peace studies of the 1980s) and an engagement with some of the most
pressing security challenges in what he describes as a polarized, constrained,
and potentially fragile and unstable world (p.81) that he argues peace
studies can help to address. The nal chapter from Barry Buzan and Ole
Wver provides a level of analytical depth not often seen in an introductory
textbook, and reaches some interesting conclusions as to the future of what
they characterize as the separate imperatives within security studies of
theory production and practical problem solving.
In a book of this size there will always be chapters which are not as
strong as others, and even in one of such wide scope there are additional
issues which could be covered. A future edition could include a chapter on
the nascent concept of sustainable security being developed, not by
academics but instead in a number of think tanks and NGOs. Similarly a
chapter on multilateral approaches to security (covering more than just
theoretical discussions of collective security to include security communities
and security regimes) would make a useful addition.
On the whole, this new edition of Contemporary Security Studies stands
as one of the best, if not the best introductions to the study of insecurity and
ways of theorizing about, as well as developing policies to address, the major
security challenges facing humanity. We are entering an age which, whilst
being fearful and profoundly insecure, need not be as destructive as our
capabilities will allow. The kind of careful and considered analysis that this
book puts forward can be used as a basis for both understanding our
predicament and crafting appropriate responses to it.
Benjamin Zala
University of Birmingham and Oxford Research Group, UK
bpz898@bham.ac.uk
2010, Benjamin Zala
War and the Health of Nations, by Zaryab Iqbal, Stanford, Stanford
University press, 2010, 189pp., (incl. index), $45 (hardback), ISBN:
978-0-8047-5881-9.
In her book War and the Health of Nations, Zaryab Iqbal, Assistant
Professor of Political Science at Pennsylvania State University, focuses on
Medicine, Conict and Survival 315
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