Regional order and peaceful change: Security communities as a via media in international relations theory

Abstract

The security community concept generally inhabits a rather small niche in the study of International Relations, as the logic of community fundamentally challenges the prevailing logic of anarchy. In this article, it is argued both on ontological and theoretical grounds that the concept's intellectual heritage and depth transcends the boundaries of existing theories. In this sense, the concept of security community serves as a via media by linking different strands of International Relations theory together and by bridging various theoretical gaps. This argument will be developed in two steps. Firstly, it will be shown that the security community framework developed by Karl W Deutsch is deeply rooted in International Political Theory without belonging to one particular branch. By locating the concept in International Political Theory, an exercise that has been neglected by the security community literature; it will be secondly demonstrated that the concept of security community takes the middle ground between specific strands of International Relations theory, as these strands are ultimately based on concepts of moral philosophy.

Stanje i dometi teorije regionalnog bezbednosnog kompleksa u proučavanju regiona u međunarodnim odnosima

“…Prema ovom autoru, bezbednosna zajednica je: "grupa koja je postala integrisana, gde je integracija definisana kao postignuće osećaja zajednice, praćeno formalnim ili neformalnim institucijama i praksama, dovoljno jakim i raširenim da osiguraju mirne promene među članicama grupe sa 'razumnim stepenom' sigurnosti u toku 'dugog vremenskog perioda'" (Deutsch 1954, 33). Od samog nastanka koncepta bezbednosne zajednice, pokazalo se da je adekvatan u povezivanju različitih tradicija u međunarodnim odnosima (Koschut 2014). Čak i pregledom pristupa regionalnih bezbednosnih poredaka, jasno je da i realistički pristup Lejka i Morgana (1997), kao i kombinovani relističkokonstruktivistički pristup Buzana i Vejvera (2003), te Frejžera i Stjuart-Ingersola (2010) kao komponente svojih modela imaju bezbednosne zajednice.…”

A transformative social scientist: Karl Deutsch and the discipline of International Relations

“…Second, the tentative links between Deutsch and classical realists have already been noted by some scholars, albeit in limited ways or only in passing. 32 Emanuel Adler probed the connection between E. H. Carr and Deutsch. 33 William Scheuerman mentions Deutsch when he criticizes classical realists, or as he calls them Progressive Realists, for failing to explore functional replacements to nationally based political communities with their national, linguistic, or religious ties.…”

The role of emotions during the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt in light of repertoires

“…Towards this end, apart from different frameworks of emotions such as cognition oriented works or accounts taking emotions as non-reflective bodily sensations in light of affect (Clore & Huntsinger, 2009;Frijda, 1986;Hutto, 2012;Massumi, 2002;Nussbaum, 2001;Thrift, 2004), what 'emotional turn' in IR overlooks is emotions' role in transnational protests or movements like the Arab Spring. These issues are generally ignored in the literature concentrating on emotions and state behaviour (Eznack, 2011(Eznack, , 2013Hall, 2016;Koschut, 2014) or emotions in elite-decision making (Crawford, 2000(Crawford, , 2014Mercer, 2006Mercer, , 2010Mercer, , 2014Pace & Bilgiç, 2017).…”