Is Culture Independent of National Security

How America's National Security Concerns Shaped `Political Culture' Research

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6061069
AutoresIdo Oren (0000-0001-7470-6135, University of Florida, autor de correspondencia)
Año2000
Volumen6
Número4
Páginas543-573
Fecha de publicación2000-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEuropean Journal of International Relations (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1354-0661 • E-ISSN: 1460-3713
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1354066100006004004
OpenAlexW1993291323
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas12
Referencias citadas52

The dominant, positivist, approach to the study of culture and national security specifies `culture' as an independent variable. It assumes that culture, and the study of culture, are uncontaminated by the politics of national security. This formulation contrasts with the dominant understanding of `culture' in the humanities, where culture and power are viewed as constituting a `nexus', and where politics is claimed to shape cultural knowledge, including knowledge about culture, as much as the other way around. I demonstrate the utility of the `nexus' approach by exploring the origins of Gabriel Almond's `political culture' research. I show that Almond built on ideas that originated in national security work, that he enjoyed an intimate relationship with national security agencies, that his scholarship tracked US foreign policy concerns, and that it was part of a broader Cold War cultural formation. `Political culture', thus, was not pure of the politics of national security. I conclude by raising some questions about the `purity' of the present literature on culture and national security

National security · Nexus (standard) · Political culture · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Positivism · Scholarship · Social science · Sociology · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Military History and Strategy · Peacebuilding and International Security