ABSTRACT
For over a decade security studies, if not the entire field of international relations, were dominated by the paradigm of the end of the Cold War. The phrase, ‘in the post-Cold War era’ was established as the standard introductory statement to any work in these fields. This paradigm has now been replaced by a new ‘buzzword’, ‘post-11 September’, purportedly heralding the beginning of a new stage in the evaluation of international security and its study. Has the world, and our conception of international relations, changed so dramatically since that fateful, late summer’s day in 2001?. The answer is an ambivalent yes and no. The dramatic change that has occurred is that the most conflictual and violent features of the international system have had direct impact on the core of the ‘West’ and the world’s remaining superpower, the United States. Its response in the form of the ‘war on terror’, the depiction of an ‘axis of evil’, and the campaign against Iraq culminating in ‘regime change’ have indeed transformed the security landscape after Cold War. The United States has embarked on an aggressive policy of redefining its own security concerns which, through its hegemonic role in the international system, has shaken the very foundations of the system and through its predominance dragged many of its members in its wake (to a greater or lesser degree-willingly or unwillingly).
