International Politics in the Age of Existential Threats

Bibliographic Data

ID13020179
AuthorsNathan Alexander Sears (0000-0003-4399-8950, University of Toronto, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume6
Issue3
Publication date2020-05-16
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Global Security Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2057-3189 • E-ISSN: 2057-3189
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/jogss/ogaa027
OpenAlexW3036749309
LanguageEN
Citations received21
References cited94

Humans in the twenty-first century live under the specter of anthropogenic existential threats to human civilization and survival. What is the significance of humanity’s capacity for self-destruction to the meaning of “security” and “survival” in international politics? The argument is that it constitutes a material “revolution” in international politics—that is, the growing spectrum of anthropogenic existential threats represents a radical transformation in the material context of international politics that turns established truths about security and survival on their heads. The paper develops a theoretical framework based in historical security materialism, especially the theoretical proposition that the material circumstances of the “forces of destruction” determine the security viability of different “modes of protection”, political “units” and “structures”, and “security ideologies” in international politics. The argument seeks to demonstrate the growing disjuncture (or “contradiction”) between the material context of anthropogenic existential threats (“forces of destruction”); and the security practices of war, the use of military force, and the balance-of-power (“modes of protection”); the political units of nation-states and structure of international anarchy (“political superstructure”); and the primacy of “national security” and doctrines of “self-help” and “power politics” in international politics (“security ideologies”). Specifically, humanityapos;s survival interdependence with respect to anthropogenic existential threats calls into question the centrality of national security and survival in international politics. In an age of existential threats, “security” is better understood as about the survival of humanity

Argument (complex analysis · Context (archaeology · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Existentialism · Geography · Ideology · International relations · International security · Materialism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Global Security and Public Health · Nuclear Issues and Defense · Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life · Law · Philosophy

Tools

Open DOI