Strategic Studies Quarterly

Abstract The paper aims at studying the concept of security according to the latest security schools. Indeed, the latest security schools, namely, the English School, the Copenhagen School, the Paris School, the Wales School and the Post-Colonial School are those schools of security that fall in this category. In this way, the author studies “the reference of security” based on the said schools and consequently he compares those schools’ ontology, epistemology and methodology. As findings of the study reveals the reference of security is different to those schools and for each of them are as follows: the English School, individual/ state; the Wales School, individual/ people; the Copenhagen School, state/ community; the Paris School, society or political community; and finally, the Post-Colonial School, the southern subordinates

Abstract

This paper aims at raising a Quran based concept of security. This kind of security is based on the belief in God and is extracted from the Holy Quran which is the words of the God. According to the hypothesis of the paper, the security refers to the belief, because the belief is one of the main core concepts of the Holy Quran which in turn is the foundation of the mundane and the hereafter life. However, the Holy Quran provides a raison d'être of security that is linked to the philosophy of creation and descent of humankind and leads to a special kind of anthropology without of which neither the study of aspects and faces of security nor  the recognition of security regulations could be possible. Based on the relevant aspects and rules of security in the Holy Quran, this paper compares this kind of security with the current concepts of security including national security and finally it shows that there are many similarities between these concepts.

Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to study the influence of the Salafi discourse in the Islamic world on the security in theMiddle Eastand like the Baabi Sa’eid’s approach towards the political Islam, the author uses the discourse methodology in this paper. Due to its radical position against the secular western discourse, the Salafi Islam has caused grave concerns for the international society. This discourse, given to its challenges against the western international order and moving forward the Islam – identity based approach, has drawn great attention under the issue of globalization of security and therefore, Salafi Islam has been one of the important topics in the international security studies. In this way, the hypothesis of this paper is as follows: “given the origins of the Salafi Islam discourse in theMiddle East, and in the light of its proliferation in the world, the security of this region has been globalized”. With the globalization of the security, discourses like the Salafi Islam has appeared in the virtual spatial and therefore its security readings have been much more visible in the literature. Wherever the Salafi Islam matches with the globalization, we will witness greater promotion and spread of an epistemology which believes that the Western discourse cannot provide proper security.

Abstract Security studies literature which is used as a base in reviewing other countries security developments, has roots in the Western countries and especially US security developments due to its origin and nature. This literature is mostly Western (West-Based) because even if it has not been created in western geographical district by Western scholars in Western language (Latin), its main object has been to provide western inserts.This article attempts to remind the necessity of Western security studies literature revision considering its explanatory limits. Therefore, at first the nature of western security studies literature is checked, then its emergence, proliferation, and explanatory limits will be discussed. At the end, the necessity of theoretical and practical revision of the existing security studies literature is considered.

Abstract Security studies inIrando not have a long history. However, studying security developments, as a small part of that bigger area is even newer. In fact, there exist many views and analyses on the very society and national security ofIranwhich have been raised by thinkers and researchers of security studies. These achievements can be categorized in four explanatory models which are as follows: discourse on securing, expansion and growth, discourse on tradition and modernity, discourse on delimitation, consolidation and pluralism, and also views on class and structure. These models can help us in understanding security developments ofIran.

Abstract In Public and Political Circles and even in most scientific debates, sometimes the concepts of doctrines, policy and strategy have been applied so intertwined and with close meanings that distinguishing between their conceptual and theoretical boundaries have become a foundamental problem. In fact, theoretical and conceptual interference and ambiguity between doctrine, policy and strategy is a considerable scientific issue that must be taken into account In this article, while establishing a connection between these concepts and the concept of security, there is an attempts toward designing a theoretical boundaries between them. Accordingly, the auther triees to reassess the assumptions regarding ambiguity of security concept and interference of boundaries of security studies. In this basis, it can be said that security is a theoretical context and denomination of doctrine, policy and strategy.

Abstract It would be preciously necessity to examining more the essential constituent of nature of security studies inIran. In regard to the necessary and for focusing security conception or a sense of need to it and security studies in one side, and the difference between security studies in Iran and Iranian security studies in the other side, the paper is reviewing the history of shaping security studies in Iran so that finding and analyzing the problems and challenges in them. Security studies inIranfor being an independent realm need to emancipating from three dependencies such as the conceptually, the scientifically, the thoughtfully.

Abstract Conceptual overlapping among security, politics and strategy was ever caused to meaning uncertainty of security studies and its dependency to political, strategic and international relations studies, too. Here, for transparency and solving of this conceptual overlapping, author is trying to be taking under questioning the presuppositions of strategic, political and international relations studies such as likeness of concept of security and security studies, coming in to existence of security after politics, strategy and international relations, and to be more limited scope of security studies. Besides the reviewing these presuppositions, this article, by genealogy perspective, is trying to evidence the boundaries of the security studies related to political, strategic and international relations realm, and representing the evolution of it.

Abstract The relationship between security, politics and strategy has frequently been subject to academic debates and the demarcation of boundaries among these concepts and the contours of their study areas are the result of such academic debates and contentions. In this article, the author examines the historical grounds of change in the aforementioned concepts and analyzes their mutual relationship according to four traditional, meta-traditional, modern and postmodern discourses in order to explain part of ambiguities and complexities of the concept of security. Indeed, dependence of the security concept on concepts of politics and strategy and the overlapping of security studies area with areas of political and strategic studies – as the fundamental assumption in the existing literature of security studies – is challenged in the writing. In answering the question of what relationship exists between the concept of security and concepts of politics and strategy in terms of time sequence, the author tests the hypothesis that there is no time sequence between the concepts of security, politics and strategy and that historical-discursive change in such concepts indicates their coincidence.

Abstract This article addresses the weak points of the dominant discourse in the field of international relations, namely realism and neorealism, and displays that issues related to security cannot be analyzed well in the modern age according to those assumptions. Pointing to the underdevelopment of the international relations discipline and proposing critical, postmodernist and feminist theories, the author tries to stress that these approaches give more space to those marginalized in the mainstream of international relations field in order to enter it. In this line, he believes that these theories, by questioning epistemological, ontological and methodological assumptions of realism, challenge the approach’s traditional outlook on security and have integrated new security relations and new analytical frameworks in the field, by including destitute people, women and the poor as actors in the domain of international relations. For critical theorists, security is often defined as the absence of threat, and it is closely linked with the concept of emancipation and world autonomy leading to freedom of action and true security. Postmodernism also creates satisfaction for those who see the world of politics from the viewpoint of peripheral actors. Within feminism, insecurity is also a gender issue that is combined with the other sources of insecurity. Furthermore, feminists seek to make international relations gender-sensitive.