ABSTRACT

These three approaches, and especially the so-called Copenhagen School, have been labelled by their opponents as constructivists, unrealists, and Europeans as a sign of inherent weakness. In addition, it is clear that many authors and dominant voices only engaged with the research of these scholars on the margins, as if they had no relevance for ‘the world as it is’, for ‘problemsolving and policy-making’, as if they were ‘too’ academic, because of their constructivist approach and because of their political and ethical considerations. This attitude, which had been substantially moderated following the end of the Cold War, reappeared after 11 September, which some scholars presented as a ‘moment of truth’. Among some realists this ‘moment of truth’ was their vindication against their critics. The only ‘serious’ discussion in many US security journals of IR was the one between offensive and defensive realism (see Mearsheimer 2001, Mowle and Sacko 2007, Taliaferro 2001). Any critical view opposing the assertion that security is, first, the domain of international security and, second, that security is a key positive value has no echo in the ‘international security’ world of experts in the USA. It is thus no accident that the critical networks have been located and financed in Europe and include Canadian, Japanese, Palestinian and Brazilian voices. In order to give strength and recognition to these alternative voices, and to show that they were not isolated, a collective group of more than 20 scholars of different ages, gender and status worked together to produce a text in the form of a manifesto, the objective being to offer a different focus for the security agenda, and to change the way of writing IR, and especially security, by outlining an international political sociology dealing with security. The group’s first article, entitled ‘Critical Approaches to Security in Europe: A Networked Manifesto’ was published in Security Dialogue (CASE 2007). The second is under preparation and will be published in the journal International Political Sociology. The group wants to pose new questions and stimulate dialogue about security beyond the boundaries of IR theory.