AN INTROSPECTION INTO THE CRITICAL SECURITY STUDIES:
AN INTRODUCTION
(Columba Peoples and Vaughan-Williams, Critical Security Studies: An
Introduction, New York, Routledge, 2010, ISBN: 0-203-84747-4, 182 pages)
Ionela Maria CIOLAN
National University of Political and Administrative Sciences, Bucharest
Tel: 004-0318.08.97, E-mail:ciolan.ionela@gmail.com
During the Cold War, the international system was based on a traditional security studies approach that had taken for granted the world “as it is”. Therefore, the tendency of this view, based entirely upon a Realist perspective of International Relations, assumes the state as the core actor, the anarchic feature of the international system and the idea that war between states are the innate characteristic of the international system. The inability of this paradigm to offer a theoretical basis for the end of Cold War and the events that have followed it has
given rise to a number of criticisms comprised under the main umbrella of critical security studies.
The book Critical Security Studies. An Introduction aims at offering a broad and complete understanding about the emerging theories and practices through a detailed and up-to-date introduction to critical security studies, by presenting the sub-field within the wide context of political and social theory and by analyzing the essential perspectives in critical security studies in the realm of the new security challenges.