ABSTRACT
This chapter evaluates critiques of traditional and critical security studies emanating from postcolonial experiences and theories. To do so the chapter outlines and discusses the multiple meanings of ‘the postcolonial’ in geographical, spatial and theoretical terms. It emphasises that there is no single monolithic postcolonial approach to security. Rather, there are multiple ways of interpreting the postcolonial (itself a highly contested term) and each gives rise to different, and often contrasting, approaches to security. These include ‘Third World security’ and the related idea of ‘subaltern realism’ as well as approaches to security that draw more explicitly on postcolonial theory and concepts, which are also discussed in this chapter.
