Security Dialogue

Security Dialogue
Title	Security Dialogue
Discipline	International relations; Political science
Publisher	SAGE Publications
Country	United Kingdom
History	1970–present
Frequency	Quarterly

Security Dialogue Security Dialogue is an academic journal that publishes research on international relations, security studies, and related topics such as conflict and peacebuilding. It engages scholars from institutions like London School of Economics, University of Oxford, and King's College London as well as policymakers from NATO, United Nations, and European Union agencies. The journal features debates that connect work by figures such as Michel Foucault, Cynthia Enloe, Benedict Anderson, and Vivienne Jabri to contemporary events including the Iraq War, Arab Spring, and Syrian Civil War.

Overview and Definition

Security Dialogue is a peer-reviewed forum publishing articles, commentaries, and review essays on topics at the intersection of Cold War legacies, post-colonialism, and contemporary counterterrorism practices. It situates contributions alongside scholarship from Barry Buzan, Ole Wæver, Jef Huysmans, and Ken Booth while addressing policy debates involving actors such as the International Criminal Court, World Bank, and Interpol. The journal defines its remit to include critical, constructivist, and normative approaches informed by thinkers like Judith Butler, Hannah Arendt, and Michel Foucault.

Historical Development and Origins

Founded in the context of post-1970s shifts in NATO strategy and changing debates after the Vietnam War and the Yom Kippur War, the journal evolved in parallel with the expansion of the United Nations security agenda. Early contributors engaged with scholarship from Kenneth N. Waltz, Herbert Butterfield, and Thomas Hobbes-influenced realist debates, while later issues incorporated influences from Edward Said's critique of Orientalism and Frantz Fanon's anti-colonial writing. Institutional links with centers such as Chatham House and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute helped shape its profile during episodes including the Gulf War and the post-9/11 security environment.

Theoretical Frameworks and Approaches

Security Dialogue publishes work drawing on plural theoretical lineages: realism as articulated by scholars referencing Kenneth Waltz and Hans Morgenthau; liberal institutionalism associated with John Ruggie and Robert Keohane; constructivism influenced by Alexander Wendt and Nicholas Onuf; and critical traditions inspired by Michel Foucault, Antonio Gramsci, and Robert Cox. The journal also hosts post-structuralist engagements with texts by Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze and interdisciplinary interfaces with the work of Jürgen Habermas, Feminist International Relations scholars like J. Ann Tickner, and postcolonial theorists such as Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak.

Key Topics and Themes

Recurring themes include debates over securitization theory associated with Ole Wæver and Barry Buzan, analyses of counterinsurgency campaigns like those in Afghanistan and Iraq, explorations of human security following reports by UNDP, and studies on technologies of surveillance used by agencies like NSA and GCHQ. The journal examines nexus points such as migration crises seen during the Syrian Civil War and the European migrant crisis, cyber incidents exemplified by attacks attributed to Fancy Bear and PLA Unit 61398, and environmental predicaments connected to the Paris Agreement and Kyoto Protocol. It addresses normative controversies around interventions connected to Responsibility to Protect and legal instruments like the Geneva Conventions.

Methods and Research Practices

Security Dialogue publishes qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods work, including discourse analyses drawing on the methods of Michel Foucault and Erving Goffman, case studies of operations like Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, and comparative historical research informed by archives including those of US Department of State and British National Archives. Methodological pluralism spans ethnography in sites examined by Cynthia Enloe and Paul Farmer-style fieldwork, network analysis as used in studies of Al-Qaeda and ISIS, and computational approaches analyzing datasets from institutions such as World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Impact on Policy and Practice

Findings published in Security Dialogue have influenced policy debates within organizations such as NATO, European Commission, UN Security Council, and national ministries in United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Contributions have shaped discussions on doctrine updates at US Department of Defense and parliamentary hearings in bodies like the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. The journal’s critical interventions inform non-governmental actors including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and policy research at RAND Corporation and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Category:International relations journals