DefinePK

Abstract

Security is an important concept in International Relations. In fact, it can be argued that the whole discipline revolves around the security of states, national interests, or of individuals. With the passage of time, the dynamics of security and the traditional notion of security has undergone multiple changes that have helped the concept to evolve. Multiple theories and schools of thought in International Relations have defined and treated security in a different manner. Where some theories preferred state security over the security of individuals, others maintained their focus primarily on individuals. The change in the expansion of the concept of security can be attributed to the third great debate in IR which relates to positivism and interpretivism. This paper aims to elaborate different theoretical paradigms in the light of this debate, using secondary sources of data including books, journal articles, magazine articles, reports, and websites. The paper acts as a one-stop shop for the scholars of IR who seek to understand the notion of security from different paradigms. In doing so, the paper highlights the notion of security represented by the realist school of thought, structural realism, liberalism, the Copenhagen School of security studies, constructivism, and the Aberystwyth School. While highlighting these concepts, the notions of traditional security and non-traditional security are also explained in the study, further demonstrating the evolution in the concept of security.