ABSTRACT
Traditional security studies, drawing on realist premises, insist on a link to military and strategic concerns. These studies present a decidedly negative vision of international politics. Conversely, studies drawing on a broadly-defined constructivism often eschew pressing state security concerns and instead focus on problematizing identity constructs in order to investigate alternative political issues. Realism and political constructivism are complementary forces that ask different questions and elicit different answers. The chapter argues that both are necessary components of a deeper process that requires further analysis in order to offer the state a comprehensive and robust security analysis. It outlines each of the components of this approach to analyzing insecurity. Beginning with constructivism as an epistemology, the chapter describes each rhetorical vision of politics, and concludes with a vision of security that brings together a realist perspective and a political constructivist perspective.
