Nontraditional Security: Redefining State-centric Outlook

Abstract

The end of the Cold War witnessed a paradigm shift not only in the international setting but also in the field of studies relating to security issues. During the Cold War international relations, both in terms of theory and practice, were dominated by the realist paradigm that emphasized on the notion of preservation of the state from threats emanating from external sources. Such a conception was myopic and it narrowed the analysis of international and security issues. During the past decade, particularly during the post-Cold War era, attempts were being made to broaden the security agenda in order to include issues of other sectors, namely, political, economic, societal, and ecological, besides the military ones. This article is an attempt to deal with a broader understanding of the term security as drawn from various theoretical schools not only to lend clarity to the term but also to enable a researcher to place the concept in a proper frame of reference, that is, to examine the concept of security with focus on the changing international security agenda that not only calls for a rethinking but also a reexamination of the perennial security issues.