Explaining the security paradigm shift

Strategic culture, epistemic communities, and Israel’s changing national security policy

Bibliographic Data

ID12699340
AuthorsTamir Libel (0000-0002-5141-7418, Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume16
Issue2
Pages137-156
Publication date2016-03-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDefence Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1470-2436 • E-ISSN: 1743-9698
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14702436.2016.1165595
OpenAlexW2317694881
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited31

The paper’s main argument is that Israel’s security policy, which traditionally focused on defending its territorial integrity against regular Arab armed forces, was, by the 2010s, transformed into one that focuses on facing a variety of state- and non-state-based threats. Neo-realist explanations could neither account for the contested nature of the security debate during this period, nor the inconsistent evolution of the policy. The present study aims to solve this conundrum by introducing an alternative approach known as 4th generation strategic culture research. The paper is comprised of four parts. First, the origins and evolution of strategic culture are reviewed, with emphasis placed on the commonly accepted weaknesses that, to date, have prevented it from being used as a testable theoretical concept, and subsequently as an explanatory factor for security policy changes. The second part presents the “modernist constructivism” approach that bridges the gap between traditional constructivism and hypothesis-driven research design. Next, the paper introduces the emerging fourth generation in strategic culture literature, followed by a conceptual framework designed to resolve the inherent weaknesses of the more traditional approaches. Finally, this conceptual framework is applied to analyse the transformation of Israel’s security policy between 1982 and 2014

Argument (complex analysis · Computer security · Conceptual framework · Constructivism (international relations · Critical security studies · Economics · Epistemology · International relations · National security · Network security policy · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Security policy · Security studies · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science · Variety (cybernetics · Computer Science · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts · Public Administration

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