ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to introduce critical thinking about security. A plethora of works produced in the post-Cold War era critiquing Cold War Security Studies has argued that security should be about referents other than the state, such as individuals, social groups, or a potential global society. Deepening security refers to ‘the idea that security in world politics is essentially a derivative concept’ and that ‘different attitudes and behaviours associated with security are traceable to different political theories’. Criticisms regarding the Eurocentrism of critical approaches to security missed their mark by focusing on the ‘origins’ as opposed to ‘beginnings’ of ideas about emancipation. Mohammed Ayoob was one of the vocal critics of critical approaches to security on grounds of Eurocentrism. Anti-Eurocentric critics of critical approaches to security have focused on the Western European location or ‘origin’ of schools, scholars, or ideas.
