Robert C. Gray

Barry Buzan and Lene Hansen, The Evolution of International Security Studies

When Arnold Wolfers analyzed the concept of national security in 1952, he highlighted both objective dimensions (‘the absence of threats to acquired values’) and subjective ones (‘the absence of fear that such values will be attacked’). These became the epistemological foundations of security studies as it developed in the next several decades. Barry Buzan (London School of Economics and Political Science) and Lene Hansen (University of Copenhagen) view subjective approaches as rooted in an objective epistemology inasmuch as the focus is often on determining whether perceptions of an adversary are accurate as measured against the objective world. The authors clearly demonstrate how far some scholars have moved away from this objective basis for analysis. In discussing how new approaches dealt with security challenges after the terrorist attacks on 9/11, the authors write that:

Landmarks in defense literature

A Study of War by Quincy Wright, Second edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965, 1,637 pp.

Learning from History: Case Studies of the Weapons Acquisition Process

This review article presents three case studies of the U.S. strategic weapons acquisition process: the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the Polaris fleet ballistic missile (FBM), and the multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV). By considering programs that stretch from the 1950s to the 1970s, the essay provides a record of the changing environment of American weapons choices over the past 25 years. After a description of research methods and major arguments, each study is assessed in terms of bureaucratic politics and of its relevance to contemporary policy. Conclusions are drawn about the most fruitful approach to the study of weapons acquisition, about the lessons of these cases for the development of weapons in an age of arms control, and about the challenges of future studies.