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On Security, by Ronnie D. Lipschutz
| Even in the common affairs of life, in love, friendship, and marriage, how little security have we when we trust our happiness in the hands of others! |
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--William Hazlitt, On Living to One's Self |
This book had its origins in 1990, when John Ruggie suggested that I assemble a group of people to consider the problem of "redefining security." After consultations with various colleagues, Beverly Crawford and I decided to take on the challenge. At the time, John was director of the UC-Systemwide Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC), and he was kind enough to provide some funds to get the project started.
From the very beginning of the project, however, it was not at all clear that its focus ought to be on new definitions of security. We wanted a book that did more than define the "new" security challenges of the 1990s, or the 21st century. And we wanted to examine the constructions and discourses that underlie the definitions of security that, ultimately, result in force postures, weapons deployments, and so on. Consequently, in casting the net for contributors, we went beyond the "usual suspects," and tried to bring together a diverse group of individuals whose approaches to security policy and practice ranged from realist to "interdependista" to post-modern. The volume you hold in your hand is, thus, the result of several meetings by this group over the course of 1991-1992, during which the concepts, constructions, and conundrums of security were the focus of discussion, as well as subsequent reworkings and revisions of the manuscript as a whole.
In addition to the contributors to this volume, a number of other people attended various meetings, made comments and suggestions, and played a vital role in the project. Among them are Timothy Luke, Emanuel Adler, Jutta Weldes, Gene Rochlin, Bonnie Gold, Mark Nechodom, Elaine Thomas, Lisa Ellis, Steve Del Rosso, John Leslie, Albert Fishlow, Kate Wittenberg, Chad Kia, Leslie Bialler and several anonymous reviewers for Columbia University Press. The meetings could not have taken place without the assistance of Tanya DeCell, Judy Newman, Lani Blanc, and Peggy Tippet and the support of the staff of Stevenson College and the Adlai Stevenson Program on Global Security at UC-Santa Cruz. Additional funding for the project was provided, in a statement of faith, by Professor Susan Shirk, John Ruggie's successor as the IGCC's Director and through the good offices of Professor Richard Buxbaum, the Director of the Center for German and European Studies at UC-Berkeley. To all, our heartfelt thanks. This book is dedicated to Gene Rochlin--adviser, mentor, and friend.
Note: In addition to the contributors whose articles are published here, Timothy Luke was also a member of this group, but his contribution is not included here. It is, however, available from the volume editor at the address listed in the Contributors section, directly following.
RDL
March 1995
Santa Cruz, California
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