Security studies
Security studies examines threats to individuals, states, and international systems, along with the political, military, and social responses to them.
National security: The protection of a state’s sovereignty, territory, institutions, and population from threats. A central referent of security in traditional state-focused approaches.
Deterrence: A strategy that seeks to prevent an action by threatening costs that outweigh its expected benefits. It is a core way states attempt to prevent attack without fighting.
Cold War: The prolonged geopolitical rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union from the late 1940s to 1991. The rivalry established strategic studies and nuclear competition as central concerns.
Nuclear strategy: The planning and doctrines governing the threatened or actual use of nuclear weapons for political purposes. It applies deterrence theory to weapons capable of catastrophic destruction.
Realism: A family of international-relations theories emphasizing states, power, and competition under anarchy. Realist accounts foreground state survival and military capabilities in security analysis.
Human security: An approach that prioritizes people’s safety, livelihoods, and dignity rather than state security alone. It challenges the state-centered assumptions that shaped early security studies.
Compellence: A strategy that uses threats or limited force to make an opponent change its behavior. Unlike deterrence, it seeks to reverse or halt an action already underway.
Strategic studies: The study of the use and threat of military force to achieve political objectives. It formed security studies’ early intellectual core, especially during the Cold War.
Counterterrorism: Policies and operations intended to prevent, disrupt, or respond to terrorism. It tests how governments balance protection, coercion, and civil liberties.
Liberalism: A family of international-relations theories emphasizing institutions, cooperation, and domestic political structures. Liberal approaches explain how institutions and interdependence can shape security beyond power balancing.