This is the first book to examine the range of thinking about security that has emerged in the academic literature over the past fifteen years. It begins by examining the centrality of security issues in the discipline of international relations, and then outlines in turn the various perspectives on security - starting with realism and moving on to peace studies, gender, and post-positivist arguments. The book then explores the non-traditional threats that have been brought into the security debate, such as the environment, economics, transnational criminal organizations, and population movements. Throughout this study, the authors focus on two of the central questions in the current debate: What is to be protected and what is to be protected from?

By defining the parameters of the discipline and identifying the paradigms contained within it, this much-needed book provides a foundation for understanding the current debates and thinking in security studies. It will be essential reading on undergraduate and postgraudate courses in security studies and international relations, as well as contributing to the development of the current academic debate on the meaning and nature of security.