ABSTRACT
Among the multiple critical approaches to security, one specific variant – Critical Security Studies (CSS), or the Welsh School approach – has sought to explicitly link the study of security to Critical Theory. This chapter locates the key intellectual origins and developments in this understanding of CSS, before moving on to discuss in more detail its central ideas. Particular attention is paid to the concept of ‘emancipation’ as viewed from a CSS perspective and to the issue of how security theory and security practices are related to one another. The chapter also goes on to discuss some of the most prominent criticisms of Welsh School CSS before evaluating the contributions, limitations and potentialities of this particular interpretation of the relationship between Critical Theory and security.
