Choice
In this second edition of their well-received survey (1st ed., CH, Dec'06, 44-2361), Caldwell and Williams (both, Pepperdine Univ.) offer an exceptional overview of international security challenges and the status of threats to both states and individuals. Seeking Security in an Insecure World is a sober reminder that while the threat of interstate war has severely diminished in the developed world, developing nations remain plagued by political instability, civil wars, crime, infectious diseases, and persistent environmental challenges. The transnational nature of these problems has led to a progressive securitization of issues not previously perceived as part of a dynamic threat environment, and necessitates that state-centered security paradigms give way to new realities—including the fact that human security is very often threatened by the very states responsible for its assurance. This updated book is a measured and comprehensive appraisal of the contemporary security environment. While the authors offer advice and suggestions for policy moving forward, the level of insecurity presented as endemic to 21st-century geopolitics is such that it leaves the reader intellectually challenged yet highly concerned about the prospects for international security in the near term. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.
CHOICE
In this second edition of their well-received survey (1st ed., CH, Dec'06, 44-2361), Caldwell and Williams (both, Pepperdine Univ.) offer an exceptional overview of international security challenges and the status of threats to both states and individuals. Seeking Security in an Insecure World is a sober reminder that while the threat of interstate war has severely diminished in the developed world, developing nations remain plagued by political instability, civil wars, crime, infectious diseases, and persistent environmental challenges. The transnational nature of these problems has led to a progressive securitization of issues not previously perceived as part of a dynamic threat environment, and necessitates that state-centered security paradigms give way to new realities—including the fact that human security is very often threatened by the very states responsible for its assurance. This updated book is a measured and comprehensive appraisal of the contemporary security environment. While the authors offer advice and suggestions for policy moving forward, the level of insecurity presented as endemic to 21st-century geopolitics is such that it leaves the reader intellectually challenged yet highly concerned about the prospects for international security in the near term. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels.
Proceedings
This book deals with this oft quoted but little understood issue in an organized and scholarly yet lively manner....In dealing with both traditional and contemporary sources of insecurity, this book provides light in an area commonly containing primarily heat.
Ambassador Dennis Ross
PRAISE FOR THE FIRST EDITION In a world that is increasingly interconnected, the very concept of security requires redefinition and broadening. Dan Caldwell and Robert Williams not only offer a cogent explanation for why this is the case, they also present an excellent overview of the range and nature of the new threats. In doing so, they have provided a real service to scholars, policymakers, and interested laypeople alike. Scholars will benefit greatly from the discussion of why traditional state-based threats are limiting and a new security paradigm incorporating non-state threats is needed. Policymakers will gain from the analysis of the character of new threats, the danger of unintended consequences when employing traditional military responses to them, and the value of new forms of cooperation for containing and combating them. And interested citizens, after reading this thoughtful book, will both understand the challenges of security in a new century better and also be able to demand more imaginative and integrated responses from governments and non-governmental organizations.
