- Praise for the previous edition, <i>Foreign Policy 2e</i>
- Foreword
- How to use this book
- Guided tour of the Online Resource Centre
- Acknowledgements
- Notes on contributors
- Introduction
- Section 1 Foreign policy analysis
- 1. The history and evolution of foreign policy analysis
- 2. Realism and foreign policy
- 3. Liberalism and foreign policy
- 4. Constructivism and foreign policy
- 5. Discourse analysis, post-structuralism, and foreign policy
- Section 2 Analysing foreign policy
- 6. Actors, structures, and foreign policy analysis
- 7. Foreign policy decision making
- 8. Implementation and behaviour
- 9. Public diplomacy
- 10. The role of media and public opinion
- 11. The primacy of national security
- 12. Economic statecraft
- 13. Duties beyond borders
- Section 3 Foreign policy case studies
- 14. The Cuban Missile Crisis
- 15. Canada and antipersonnel landmines
- 16. Neoconservatism and the domestic sources of American foreign policy
- 17. China and the Tian’anmen Crisis of June 1989
- 18. India and the World Trade Organization
- 19. Rising Brazil and South America
- 20. Australia and global climate change
- 21. Israeli–Egyptian (in)security
- 22. What kind of power? European Union enlargement and beyond
- 23. Energy and foreign policy
- 24. The failure of diplomacy and protection in Syria
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Subject Index
(p. 206) 11. The primacy of national security
- Chapter:
- (p. 206) 11. The primacy of national security
- Author(s):
Brian C. Schmidt
- DOI:
- 10.1093/hepl/9780198708902.003.0011
This chapter focuses on national security, a central concept in foreign policy analysis. A core objective of foreign policy is to achieve national security. However, there is a great deal of ambiguity about the meaning of the concept. Although the traditional meaning of national security is often associated with protecting the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the nation state, this does not exhaust all of the possible meanings. The chapter examines some of the competing conceptions of national security, beginning with the three main assumptions of realism that together help to account for the primacy of national security: statism, survival, and self-help. It then considers the field of security studies before concluding with an assessment of the theoretical controversy about the meaning of national security and how it relates to three American grand strategies: neo-isolationism, liberal internationalism, and primacy.
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- Praise for the previous edition, <i>Foreign Policy 2e</i>
- Foreword
- How to use this book
- Guided tour of the Online Resource Centre
- Acknowledgements
- Notes on contributors
- Introduction
- Section 1 Foreign policy analysis
- 1. The history and evolution of foreign policy analysis
- 2. Realism and foreign policy
- 3. Liberalism and foreign policy
- 4. Constructivism and foreign policy
- 5. Discourse analysis, post-structuralism, and foreign policy
- Section 2 Analysing foreign policy
- 6. Actors, structures, and foreign policy analysis
- 7. Foreign policy decision making
- 8. Implementation and behaviour
- 9. Public diplomacy
- 10. The role of media and public opinion
- 11. The primacy of national security
- 12. Economic statecraft
- 13. Duties beyond borders
- Section 3 Foreign policy case studies
- 14. The Cuban Missile Crisis
- 15. Canada and antipersonnel landmines
- 16. Neoconservatism and the domestic sources of American foreign policy
- 17. China and the Tian’anmen Crisis of June 1989
- 18. India and the World Trade Organization
- 19. Rising Brazil and South America
- 20. Australia and global climate change
- 21. Israeli–Egyptian (in)security
- 22. What kind of power? European Union enlargement and beyond
- 23. Energy and foreign policy
- 24. The failure of diplomacy and protection in Syria
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Subject Index