Towards a Political Sociology of Security Studies

TY - JOUR

T1 - Towards a Political Sociology of Security Studies

AU - Wæver, Ole

PY - 2010/12

Y1 - 2010/12

N2 - Endowed now with a convincing history of itself, security studies needs a sociological analysis of its workings. The 'post-Kuhnian sociology of science' in the Buzan & Hansen (2009) volume is too sociologically thin and offers a disembodied history of ideas, not a sociology of flesh-and-blood scholars. This article suggests how a sociology of security studies can be strung between the two poles of a sociology of international relations and theories of expertise. Special attention must be paid to the role of 'security theory' for policy analysis, as well as the variation over time and geographically in the institutional chains connecting academe and policy, especially the changing nature of think-tanks. The centre of analysis should be networks of scholars manoeuvring these cross-pressures and making research and other career choices. Through its focus on form, this approach can explain dominant styles of scholarship in the USA and Europe as ways of meeting contrasting demands from academic institutions and policy relevance. The article ends with an assessment of the prospects for security studies.

AB - Endowed now with a convincing history of itself, security studies needs a sociological analysis of its workings. The 'post-Kuhnian sociology of science' in the Buzan & Hansen (2009) volume is too sociologically thin and offers a disembodied history of ideas, not a sociology of flesh-and-blood scholars. This article suggests how a sociology of security studies can be strung between the two poles of a sociology of international relations and theories of expertise. Special attention must be paid to the role of 'security theory' for policy analysis, as well as the variation over time and geographically in the institutional chains connecting academe and policy, especially the changing nature of think-tanks. The centre of analysis should be networks of scholars manoeuvring these cross-pressures and making research and other career choices. Through its focus on form, this approach can explain dominant styles of scholarship in the USA and Europe as ways of meeting contrasting demands from academic institutions and policy relevance. The article ends with an assessment of the prospects for security studies.

U2 - 10.1177/0967010610388213

DO - 10.1177/0967010610388213

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0967-0106

VL - 41

SP - 649

EP - 658

JO - Security Dialogue

JF - Security Dialogue

IS - 6

ER -