Security Studies: Critical Perspectives

Xavier Guillaume is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands and has also taught at the Université de Genève, the University of Edinburgh and Sciences Po Paris. A citizen of Geneva, Switzerland, Xavier was born and raised in Geneva's suburbs by a working poor, divorced mother. Xavier specialises in security and international issues connected to the mundane ways by which people constitute their identities in relation to others, the state, or to other international actors.Kyle Grayson is the Head of the School of Geography, Politics, and Sociology at Newcastle University UK and Professor of Security, Politics, and Culture. A Canadian-British dual-national, he was born and raised on the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. He is the third successive generation in his family to have migrated for economic reasons. Currently, he is Co-Editor in Chief of the academic journal International Political Sociology and Vice-Chair of the British International Studies Association.

• Approaching security critically 1: Xavier Guillaume and Kyle Grayson: What is critique? 2: Xavier Guillaume and Kyle Grayson: Security 3: Xavier Guillaume and Kyle Grayson: Orders, power and hierarchies 4: Xavier Guillaume and Kyle Grayson: Political violence 5: Xavier Guillaume and Kyle Grayson: Critical Questions Key Themes in Security Studies 6: Cédric Moreau de Bellaing: Policing 7: Victoria Basham: War and socio-political orders 8: Christian Olsson: Terrorism and asymmetric conflicts Security as Identity 9: Melody Fonseca Santos: Identity and othering 10: Jennifer Hobbs and Laura McLeod: Gender and sexuality 11: Philippe M. Frowd: Nationalism, racism and xenophobia Security as Political Economy 12: Maria Stern: Securing development, developing security? 13: Sara E. Davies and Jessica Kirk: Health 14: Caitlin Ryan: Property, extraction and accumulation Security as Technology 15: Rocco Bellanova: Digital, (in)security and violence 16: Mark Lacy: Security and design 17: Michael Bourne: Weapon-systems Security as Space 18: Madeleine Fagan: Environment 19: Benjamin J. Muller: Borders and mobility 20: Anna Schliehe: Prisons and Camps

I have been waiting for a long time for an introduction to security studies that provides a clear set of tools for critically analysing security as a political practice with consequences for living in common. Xavier Guillaume and Kyle Grayson have delivered just that. Security Studies: Critical Perspectives is a fantastic teaching resource that will help students and scholars to methodically interrogate the bewildering multiplicity of security registers and issues today.