This text takes issue with arguments that security studies is a discipline of limited use in making sense of the post-Cold War world. It argues that many of the most interesting theoretical issues in international relations can most usefully be studied through a prism labelled "security studies". The book combines chapters which provide a variety of critical perspectives on the discipline and address a diverse range of theoretical concerns, with chapters that examine such substantive issues as weapons proliferation and the changing meaning of "security" for actors in the erstwhile conflict between East and West.

Armed groups operating beyond the state have become the most important actors in most contemporary wars and violent conflicts, from Iraq and Afghanistan to Colombia and Somalia. They come in a dizzying array of forms: some informally linked to the state and state power, others in opposition to the state; some pursuing classic political goals, others primarily predatory and large-scale criminal enterprises. All groups, however, challenge the state's Weberian monopoly of the legitimate use of force, yet their origins, evolution, violent dynamics, and relations with state power are poorly understood.

This interdisciplinary collection includes both conceptual and empirical studies of contemporary armed groups, examining cases in Latin America, Asia and Africa. It brings sociological, political economy, and ethnographic approaches to bear on larger questions including armed groups and the changing nature of warfare, the economic dimensions of their activities, and means of engagement with armed actors. It both broadens and sharpens our understanding of how force and violence are used in today's contemporary armed conflicts.

This book was published as a special issue of Contemporary Security Policy.

This text takes issue with arguments that security studies is a discipline of limited use in making sense of the post-Cold War world. It argues that many of the most interesting theoretical issues in international relations can most usefully be studied through a prism labelled "security studies." The book combines chapters which provide a variety of critical perspectives on the discipline and address a diverse range of theoretical concerns, with chapters that examine such substantive issues as weapons proliferation and the changing meaning of "security" for actors in the erstwhile conflict between East and West.

This book analyses the structure and motive forces that shape the global arms transfer and production system. The author distinguishes three tiers of arms producers, defined by such factors as defence production base, military research and development capabilities, and dependence upon arms exports. These factors interact with underlying political, economic, and military motivations to drive states to produce and export arms, and provide the force which directs the international trade in arms. The author discusses the United States and the Soviet Union, the European arms suppliers, and the emerging arms producers of the developing world. Although it concentrates on the contemporary period, the book covers a wide historical span, from the development of military technologies in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to twentieth-century revolutions in weaponry. By focusing on the processes of technological innovation and diffusion, the author shows the evolutionary nature of the spread of military technologies, and situates the current arms transfer system in a broad historical context.

Armed groups operating beyond the state have become the most important actors in most contemporary wars and violent conflicts, from Iraq and Afghanistan to Colombia and Somalia. They come in a dizzying array of forms: some informally linked to the state and state power, others in opposition to the state; some pursuing classic political goals, others primarily predatory and large-scale criminal enterprises. All groups, however, challenge the state's Weberian monopoly of the legitimate use of force, yet their origins, evolution, violent dynamics, and relations with state power are poorly understood. This interdisciplinary collection includes both conceptual and empirical studies of contemporary armed groups, examining cases in Latin America, Asia and Africa. It brings sociological, political economy, and ethnographic approaches to bear on larger questions including armed groups and the changing nature of warfare, the economic dimensions of their activities, and means of engagement with armed actors. It both broadens and sharpens our understanding of how force and violence are used in today's contemporary armed conflicts. This book was published as a special issue of Contemporary Security Policy.