The Copenhagen School of security studies is a school of academic thought with its origins in international relations

International relations

International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...

 theorist Barry Buzan

Barry Buzan

Barry Gordon Buzan is Montague Burton Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and honorary professor at the University of Copenhagen and Jilin University...

's book People, States and Fear: The National Security Problem in International Relations, first published in 1983. The Copenhagen School places particular emphasis upon the social aspects of security. Theorists associated with the school include Barry Buzan, Ole Wæver

Ole Wæver

Ole Wæver is a professor of International Relations at the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen. He has published and broadcast extensively in the field of international relations, and is one of the main architects of the so-called Copenhagen School in International...

 and Jaap de Wilde

Jaap De Wilde

Jaap H. de Wilde is a Professor of International Relations and World Politics at the University of Groningen. From 2001 to 2007 he was professor in European Security Studies at the Department of Political Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and from 1995-2007 he was senior research fellow in...

. Many of the school's members worked at the Copenhagen Peace Research Institute

Copenhagen Peace Research Institute

The Copenhagen Peace Research Institute was a Danish research institute established in 1985 by the Danish Parliament. Its aim was to support and strengthen multidisciplinary research on peace and security. Established as an independent institute, in 1996 became a government research institute...

. The most prominent critic of the Copenhagen School is Bill McSweeney.

The primary book of the Copenhagen School is Security: A New Framework for Analysis

Security: A New Framework for Analysis

Security: A New Framework for Analysis is a book by Barry Buzan, Ole Waever and Jaap de Wilde. It is considered to be the leading text outlining the views of the Copenhagen School of security studies. The work is based around two important conceptual developments: Buzan's notion of sectoral...

 written by Barry Buzan, Ole Wæver

Ole Wæver

Ole Wæver is a professor of International Relations at the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen. He has published and broadcast extensively in the field of international relations, and is one of the main architects of the so-called Copenhagen School in International...

 and Jaap de Wilde

Jaap De Wilde

Jaap H. de Wilde is a Professor of International Relations and World Politics at the University of Groningen. From 2001 to 2007 he was professor in European Security Studies at the Department of Political Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and from 1995-2007 he was senior research fellow in...

.

The theory focuses on three key concepts:

1. Sectors
2. Regional Security Complexes
3. Securitization

Sectors

The concept of 'sectors' concerns the different arenas where we speak of security. The list of sectors is primarily an analytical tool created to spot different dynamics. In Security: A New Framework for Analysis

Security: A New Framework for Analysis

Security: A New Framework for Analysis is a book by Barry Buzan, Ole Waever and Jaap de Wilde. It is considered to be the leading text outlining the views of the Copenhagen School of security studies. The work is based around two important conceptual developments: Buzan's notion of sectoral...

, the authors list the following sectors: Military/state, Political, Societal, Economic, and Environmental. As such, CS theory can be regarded as 'widening' traditional materialist security studies by looking at security in these 'new' sectors.

Regional Security

The concept of regional security complexes covers how security is clustered in geographically shaped regions. Security concerns do not travel well over distances and threats are therefore most likely to occur in the region. The security of each actor in a region interacts with the security of the other actors. There is often intense security interdependence within a region, but not between regions, which is what defines a region and what makes regional security an interesting area of study. Buffer states sometimes isolate regions, such as Afghanistan's location between the Middle East and South Asia. Regions should be regarded as mini systems where all other IR theories can be applied, such as Balance of Power

Balance of power in international relations

In international relations, a balance of power exists when there is parity or stability between competing forces. The concept describes a state of affairs in the international system and explains the behavior of states in that system...

, polarity, interdependence, alliance systems, etc.
Regional Security Complex Theory

Regional Security Complex Theory

Regional Security Complex Theory is a theory of regional security advanced by Barry Buzan and Ole Waever in their 2003 work Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security....

 should not be confused with Regionalism, a subset of IR from the 70s concerned mostly with regional integration.
For more on regional security, see Buzan: Regions and Powers.

Securitization

Securitization is probably the most prominent concept of the Copenhagen School. It is argued that 'security' is a speech act with distinct consequences in the context over international politics. By talking security an actor tries to move a topic away from politics and into an area of security concerns thereby legitimating extraordinary means against the socially constructed threat. The process of securitization is intersubjective meaning that it is neither a question of an objective threat or a subjective perception of a threat. Instead securitization of a subject depends on an audience accepting the securitization speech act.

Many critical security scholars, especially since 9/11, have used the term 'securitization' without giving proper credit to the Copenhagen School.

Some of the most detailed books on the subject are:

• Understanding Global Security, Peter Hough,Routledge, 2008
• Barry Buzan, People, States and Fear, ECPR, 2007
• The Empire of Security, William Baine, Routledge, 2006

Criticism

A criticism that has been advanced against the Copenhagen School is that it is a eurocentric approach to security. Realists have argued that the Copenhagen School's widening of the security agenda risks giving the discipline of security studies

Security Studies

This article refers to the discipline within the field of International Relations. For the study of security management see security management studiesSecurity Studies is an academic sub-field of the wider discipline of International Relations...

 "intellectual incoherence". Hansen

Lene Hansen

Lene Hansen is an international relations scholar who is an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen. Hansen is most well known within academia for her critique of the absence of gender within the thinking of the Copenhagen School of security studies. The Feminist scholar Christine...

 has criticized the absence of gender in the Copenhagen School's approach. Other critiques focus on the role of the security analyst and the potentially conservative nature of the theory.

See also

• Welsh School (Security Studies)
  Welsh School (Security Studies)
  The Welsh School also known as emancipatory realism is a school within the discipline of security studies. It is a critical approach that aims to link security to critical theory and which relies up insights from the Frankfurt School and Gramscian thinking for its framework...
  
  
• Paris School (Security Studies)
  Paris School (Security Studies)
  The Paris School is a school within the academic discipline security studies. The academic journal Cultures et Conflits is particularly associated with the school as is the academic Didier Bigo...
  
  
• Critical Security Studies
  Critical Security Studies
  Critical Security Studies is an academic discipline within security studies which rejects mainstream approaches to security-Definition:Some use the term critical security studies to refer to all approaches that are critical of mainstream/orthodox realist approaches. Others see Critical Security...
  
  
• Third World Security School
  Third World Security School
  The Third World Security School is a name given to a school of thought in security studies that focuses on the security concerns of the so-called Third World. Roe cites Ayoob and Job as examples of academics whose scholarship belongs to this school. One of the first major statements of this school...
  
  

Further reading

• Barry Buzan, Ole Wæver & Jaap de Wilde (1998), Security: A New Framework for Analysis, Lynne Rienne

Criticism

• Bill McSweeney, ‘Identity and security: Buzan and the Copenhagen school’, Review of International Studies, 22:1 (1996) 81-93.