The primacy of national security

Lecturer: Ibrahim Koncak

International Ataturk Alatoo University

Department of International Relations

Aigerim Kenzhebek kyzy

Brainstorm

• What does national security mean?

Who or what we are attempting to secure?

What kind of threats do we have?

National Security

– associated with the notion of protecting and ultimately securing, the physical survival of the nation-state from external threats

– Concept of human security (Libya, Syria)

– Internal and external sources of threats

– Globalization →transnational terrorism, economic deprivation, environmental degradation, cyber-warfare

Realism and National Security

– The core objective of foreign policy is to ensure the survival of the state

– Fundamental national interest of all states is national security

– 3 S’s’: statism, survival and self-help (Dunne and Schmidt, 2011)

STATISM SURVIVAL

• Physical base• Idea of the state• Institutions• sovereignty

Self-help

• Structural realists→ size of population and territory, military strength, wealth

• Classical realists→ tangible and non-tangible elements of power

• Defensive realists→ power maximizers, balancing behavior

• Offensive realists→ the most powerful

• Ensure own survival in IS

• Security dilemma

Realism and National Security

– Realists recommend to accumulate power for yourself, and ensure no other state has acquire a preponderance(превосходство) of power

– Balance of power is a key component of national security

Security studies and national security

– the Cold War rivalry between the USA and the Soviet Union, symbolized by the nuclear arm race, served to underline the primacy of national security. As national security concern came to dominate the foreign policy agenda, the new academic field of security studies was born.

– Security studies(Walt ,1991):

may be defined by as the study of the threat, use and control of military force;

Explore the conditions that make the use of force more likely

And the specific policies that states adopt in order to prepare for/prevent/engage in war

Security studies and national security

– Policy of deterrence - prevention of war by having something such as weapons (nuclear weapon )or punishment to use as a threat

– The role of nuclear weapons is to prevent WW3 (Bernard Broodie)

– The nuclear weapons could never be used as military instruments of power or built into foreign policy strategies. (M. Gorbachev)

– Issues concerning human rights, the environment, economic development were explained in terms of NS →Human security

National security and American grand strategy

– Grand strategy →overall vision of the state’s national security goal and the ways to achieve these goals

Determine states security goals

Identify the main source of threat

Ascertain political, economic, military resources

Neo-isolationism

– Known as “interest-based” foreign policy OR “strategy of restraint”

– Be not involved in managing the affairs of other states

– USA extraordinarily secure from external threats (favorable insular position, weak neighbors to the north and south, huge military capabilities)

– National interests > national security

– Dismantle NATO, remove American troops from states such as Japan and Germany, reduce defense spending, focus on America’s own needs and interests

– The threat of terrorism will be decreased

Liberal internationalism

– America is secure and prosperous because of its global leadership after WW2, and as liberal hegemon maintained international peace

– In a globalized interdependent world, the USA is not immune from traditional military threats or from newer security threats including terrorism, WMDs, global climate change

– American national security=globe security

– The 2010 NSS by Obama proclaims that international cooperation is needed to meet common security challenges, and recommends that USA work through international institutions and alliance partners, and form new partnership with other states

Primacy

– America has been the only super-power in the international system

– America’s grand strategy should be one preventing any future gran powers from challenging the power of the USA

– Can be achieved by military dominance, stationing troops around the globe, underwriting the security of allies such as Germany and Japan, actively working to prevent the rise of powers such as China, Iran

– Multipolar world=treat for the USA. To prevent this US should continue to commit its military power and act as pacifier in Europe, Asia, Persian Gulf, and other strategic regions.

Conclusion

– Before assuming the primacy of national security in FPA, one should think how the concept is being employed, consider types of the threats.

– While realists are able to provide an explanation for the primacy of national security, there are numerous critics who disagree with them.

– Replace the state as the object of security with individuals/world society.

– The study of grand strategies shows how a state can use different foreign policies to achieve NS