ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that security is an 'essentially contested concept' defying pursuit of an agreed definition. To countless millions of people in the world it is their own state, and not 'The Enemy' that is the primary security threat. Emancipation should logically be given precedence in our thinking about security over the mainstream themes of power and order. It is appropriate to place emancipation at the centre of new security thinking in part because it is the spirit of our times. In the study of world politics, emphasizing emancipation is one way to help loosen the grip of the neo-realist tradition. The next stage of thinking about security in world affairs should be marked by moving it out of its almost exclusively realist framework into the critical philosophical camp. Overall, therefore, the concept of emancipation promises to bring together Martin Wight's 'theories of the good life', and 'theories of survival' into a comprehensive approach to security in world politics.
