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Security, identity, and interests : a sociology of international relations / Bill McSweeney.

By: McSweeney, Bill [author.]Material type: TextTextSeries: Cambridge studies in international relations ; 69.Publisher: Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1999Description: 1 online resource (xi, 239 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)Content type: text Media type: computer Carrier type: online resourceISBN: 9780511491559 (ebook)Other title: Security, Identity & InterestsSubject(s): International relations -- Sociological aspectsAdditional physical formats: Print version: : No titleDDC classification: 327.1/01 Online access: Open e-books
Contents:
1. The meaning of security pt. 1. Objectivist approaches to international security. 2. Early stages of development. 3. Broadening the concept of security. 4. Identity versus the state pt. II. Theorizing security: the turn to sociology. 5. A conceptual discussion. 6. The social constructionist approach. 7. The limits of identity theory. 8. Agency and structure in social theory. 9. Seeing a different world: a reflexive sociology of security pt. III. Practising security. 10. Doing security by stealth. 11. Conclusion: Security and moral choice.
Summary: Bill McSweeney addresses the central problem of international relations - security - and constructs a novel framework for its analysis. He argues for the unity of the interpersonal, societal and international levels of human behaviour and outlines a concept of security which more adequately reflects the complexity and ambiguity of the topic. This book introduces an alternative way of theorizing the international order, within which the idea of security takes on a broader range of meaning, inviting a more critical and interpretative approach to understanding the concept and formulating security policy. The recent shift to sociology in international relations theory has not as yet realized its critical potential for the study of security. Drawing on contemporary trends in social theory, Dr McSweeney argues that human agency and moral choice are inherent features of the construction of the social and thus international order, and hence of our conception of security and security policy.
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Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 08 Oct 2015).

1. The meaning of security pt. 1. Objectivist approaches to international security. 2. Early stages of development. 3. Broadening the concept of security. 4. Identity versus the state pt. II. Theorizing security: the turn to sociology. 5. A conceptual discussion. 6. The social constructionist approach. 7. The limits of identity theory. 8. Agency and structure in social theory. 9. Seeing a different world: a reflexive sociology of security pt. III. Practising security. 10. Doing security by stealth. 11. Conclusion: Security and moral choice.

Bill McSweeney addresses the central problem of international relations - security - and constructs a novel framework for its analysis. He argues for the unity of the interpersonal, societal and international levels of human behaviour and outlines a concept of security which more adequately reflects the complexity and ambiguity of the topic. This book introduces an alternative way of theorizing the international order, within which the idea of security takes on a broader range of meaning, inviting a more critical and interpretative approach to understanding the concept and formulating security policy. The recent shift to sociology in international relations theory has not as yet realized its critical potential for the study of security. Drawing on contemporary trends in social theory, Dr McSweeney argues that human agency and moral choice are inherent features of the construction of the social and thus international order, and hence of our conception of security and security policy.

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