"The Changing Definition of Security"

Sperling, James and Kirchner, Emil J. (1995) "The Changing Definition of Security". In: UNSPECIFIED, Charleston, South Carolina. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

[From the introduction] A reconfiguration of Europe's strategic landscape and a redefinition of security have taken place in Europe. The security concerns of individual states and the NATO alliance have expanded and now embrace not only the preoccupation with territorial integrity and military security, but also include issues ranging from macroeconomic stability to environmental degradation. This broadened redefinition of security raises an important question: what connections are there between the military and these broader nonmilitary elements of security? For the greater part of the cold war era, security was conceived primarily, if not exclusively, in terms of military security, in terms of sustaining the nuclear balance of terror between the superpowers and the conventional balance of power on the Eurasian landmass. Despite the heavy emphasis upon the military element of national security, attention was paid to the economic underpinnings of military prowess. Nonetheless, economic issues were subordinated and treated as an adjunct to the more important and pressing issue of military security. Economic security was not a relevant analytical category until the late 1960s.

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