- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- New to this Edition
- Notes on Contributors
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Boxes
- How to use this Book
- Online Resources
- 1. Introduction: What is Security Studies?
- Part 1 Approaches to Security
- 2. Realism
- 3. Liberalism and Liberal Internationalism
- 4. Historical Materialism
- 5. Peace Studies
- 6. Social Constructivism
- 7. Critical Security Studies: A Schismatic History
- 8. Poststructural Insights: Making Subjects and Objects of Security
- 9. Postcolonialism
- 10. Human Security
- 11. Gender and Security
- 12. Securitization
- Part 2 Deepening and Broadening Security
- 13. Military Security
- 14. Regime Security
- 15. Societal Security
- 16. Environmental Security
- 17. Economic Security
- 18. Globalization, Development, and Security
- Part 3 Traditional and Non-Traditional Security
- 19. Coercive Diplomacy: Countering War-Threatening Crises and Armed Conflicts
- 20. Weapons of Mass Destruction
- 21. Terrorism
- 22. Humanitarian Intervention
- 23. Energy Security
- 24. The Weapons Trade
- 25. Health and Security
- 26. Transnational Crime
- 27. Cyber-Security
- 28. After the Return to Theory: The Past, Present, and Future of Security Studies
- Glossary
- References
- Index
(p. 111) 8. Poststructural Insights: Making Subjects and Objects of Security
- Chapter:
- (p. 111) 8. Poststructural Insights: Making Subjects and Objects of Security
- Author(s):
J. Marshall Beier
- DOI:
- 10.1093/hepl/9780198804109.003.0008
This poststructuralist chapter explores some unconventional questions about somewhat unconventional subjects for Security Studies, a field that has traditionally been more inclined to focus on states in its investigations. In particular, it examines concepts such as ‘acting subject(s)’, which concerns who or what is acting to produce security or insecurity; ‘agency’, which refers to the capacity to act; ‘subjecthood’, which suggests mastery of one’s own agency or the idea that actions are products of one’s autonomous choices; and referent object(s), which are whom or what we seek to make secure. The chapter also discusses ‘smart’ bombs and other advanced weapons of the so-called Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) that moved into popular consciousness beginning with the 1991 Gulf War. Finally, it considers the role of children and Indigenous peoples both in security discourse and actual security practices.
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- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- New to this Edition
- Notes on Contributors
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Boxes
- How to use this Book
- Online Resources
- 1. Introduction: What is Security Studies?
- Part 1 Approaches to Security
- 2. Realism
- 3. Liberalism and Liberal Internationalism
- 4. Historical Materialism
- 5. Peace Studies
- 6. Social Constructivism
- 7. Critical Security Studies: A Schismatic History
- 8. Poststructural Insights: Making Subjects and Objects of Security
- 9. Postcolonialism
- 10. Human Security
- 11. Gender and Security
- 12. Securitization
- Part 2 Deepening and Broadening Security
- 13. Military Security
- 14. Regime Security
- 15. Societal Security
- 16. Environmental Security
- 17. Economic Security
- 18. Globalization, Development, and Security
- Part 3 Traditional and Non-Traditional Security
- 19. Coercive Diplomacy: Countering War-Threatening Crises and Armed Conflicts
- 20. Weapons of Mass Destruction
- 21. Terrorism
- 22. Humanitarian Intervention
- 23. Energy Security
- 24. The Weapons Trade
- 25. Health and Security
- 26. Transnational Crime
- 27. Cyber-Security
- 28. After the Return to Theory: The Past, Present, and Future of Security Studies
- Glossary
- References
- Index
