• DOI:10.1017/S0260210506007054
• Corpus ID: 55917290

The postcolonial moment in security studies

@article{Barkawi2006ThePM,
  title={The postcolonial moment in security studies},
  author={Tarak Barkawi and Mark Laffey},
  journal={Review of International Studies},
  year={2006},
  volume={32},
  pages={329 - 352}
}

• Tarak Barkawi, Mark Laffey
• Published 1 April 2006
• Political Science
• Review of International Studies

In this article, we critique the Eurocentric character of security studies as it has developed since World War II. The taken-for-granted historical geographies that underpin security studies systematically misrepresent the role of the global South in security relations and lead to a distorted view of Europe and the West in world politics. Understanding security relations, past and present, requires acknowledging the mutual constitution of European and non-European worlds and their joint role in making history. The politics of Eurocentric security studies, those of the powerful, prevent adequate understanding of the nature or legitimacy of the armed resistance of the weak. Through analysis of the explanatory and political problems Eurocentrism generates, this article lays the groundwork for the development of a non-Eurocentric security studies.