Security Relations (security + relation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Global Order, US Hegemony and Military Integration: The Canadian-American Defense Relationship

INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 4 2008
Bruno Charbonneau
This article argues that the contemporary IR literature on global order and American hegemony has limitations. First, the critical discourse on hegemony fails to adequately examine the deeply embedded nature of regularized practices that are often a key component of the acceptance of certain state and social behaviours as natural. Second, much of the (neo)Gramscian literature has given primacy to the economic aspects of hegemonic order at the expense of examining global military/security relations. Lastly, much of the literature on global order and hegemony has failed to fully immerse itself within a detailed research program. This article presents an historical sociology of Canada-US defense relations so as to argue that the integrated nature of this relationship is key to understanding Canada's role in American hegemony, and how authoritative narratives and practices of "military integration" become instrumental and persuasive in establishing a "commonsensical" worldview. The effects of such integration are especially clear in times of perceived international crisis. Our historical analysis covers Canada's role during the Cuban missile crisis, Operation Apollo after 9/11, and the current war in Afghanistan. [source]


Missile defence and the transatlantic security relationship

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, Issue 3 2001
Wyn Q. Bowen
This article examines the re-emergence of ballistic missile defence (BMD) as a contentious issue in US-European security relations since 1999. It begins by outlining three phases in the recent evolution of US missile defence policy from 1995 to mid-2001. The article then examines five key factors that have dominated European views and concerns in relation to BMD: a divergence between European and American assessments of the emerging ballistic missile threat; concern over the implications for nuclear arms control stemming from Russian and Chinese opposition to BMD; the impact of missile defence on deterrence and the Atlantic alliance; scepticism about the technological feasibility of BMD; and the potential opportunity costs associated with resource allocation to missile defence. It is shown that European anxieties have been exacerbated by a perception of a growing unilateralism in American security policy in recent years. The article proceeds by arguing that the US-European debate over BMD looks set to evolve in one of two directions. The more likely and most desirable scenario would involve the US reaching an understanding with its European allies on the way forward. The less desirable scenario would involve key European countries, such as France and Germany, deciding ultimately to withhold their political support for BMD, which would have the potential of causing significant rifts in both transatlantic and intra-European security relations. In both cases, it is argued that the BMD debate will be defined by the interaction of several key variables. These include the extent to which the Bush administration engages in meaningful consultations with the Europeans; the administration's ability or otherwise to reach an agreement with Russia on the way ahead; the architecture options of a future allied or global BMD system; the related issues of technological feasibility and financial cost; and the evolving missile threat. [source]


ESDP as a Transatlantic Issue: Problems of Mutual Ambiguity,

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES REVIEW, Issue 3 2004
Ingo Peters
European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) has become a contentious subject in transatlantic security relations. This essay identifies the ambiguities that have occurred in the policymaking on both sides of the Atlantic that appear to have generated a basic lack of confidence and trust in the other side's good intentions and commitment to cooperation. It does so by sketching three historical time periods,1981,1986, 1988,1996, and 1998,2004,that convey the recurrent patterns and outcomes in the ESDP dispute. These three cases cover the periods (1) from the London Report on European Political Cooperation to the Single European Act and the Western European Union Security Platform, (2) the Maastricht Negotiations on a Common Foreign and Security Policy, and (3) the evolution of ESDP from St. Malo to Brussels. [source]


South Korea's Missile Defense Policy: Dilemma and Opportunity for a Medium State

ASIAN POLITICS AND POLICY, Issue 3 2009
Tae-Hyung Kim
Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) delivery systems has made missile defense a key security challenge, but missile defense systems are highly controversial. I closely examine the development of the missile defense system in South Korea. South Korea has steadfastly remained outside the theater missile defense (TMD) structure, but it cooperates on missile defense, in a limited way, with its U.S. ally. South Korea's refusal to participate in TMD even as it quietly acquires air defense systems can be explained by political and diplomatic considerations regarding its neighbors (especially China), military and economic considerations about missile defense, and strategic considerations for the United States-South Korea alliance. The TMD situation demonstrates South Korea's dilemma and opportunity as a medium power in a particularly harsh security environment. South Korea is walking a fine line to diversify security relations, to maintain the alliance structure with the United States (albeit in a changed form), and to build a self-reliant military capability. [source]