Security Beyond the State

Reviews / Votes

'Security Beyond the State succeeds on several counts. For those interested in emerging security patterns, it provides a tour of the horizon on critical but neglected issues. For those interested in globalization, it demonstrates how globalization is shaping the production of security on a global scale and shifting its management to the private realm. For those interested in international relations theory, it pushes on some of the most taken-for-granted categories, including the basic function of the state and the location of modern sovereignty. And, it is one of those rare books that will be profitably read by both scholars and practitioners alike.' Michael Barnett, University of Minnesota 'Every now and then, a book comes along which changes the way in which we think about important subjects. This is such a book. The authors provide an important and compelling argument that the privatization of on-the-ground everyday security in states on the periphery of the global economic and diplomatic centers of power strengthens states at the same time that it refashions the bases of their authority. This is a book which goes beyond the facile generalizations and intellectual and cultural prejudices which surround some of the study of 'globalization' and particularly the study of private security in Africa. The theoretical framework and the empirical detail are both quite remarkable.' William Reno, Northwestern University 'A major contribution to current understandings of the formation and operation of security assemblages in a global world. The authors draw from and build upon the latest conceptual and explanatory advances in criminological thinking, security studies and elsewhere in the social sciences. Their analysis of different kinds and levels of security auspices and providers, and their relations, is the most exciting I've seen to date. This book opens up new and extended lines of inquiry at both explanatory and normative levels.' Jennifer Wood, Temple University 'This is an important new book on the globalisation of private security and its implications for politics and international relations theory. The authors start by questioning Weber's premise that the state maintains a monopoly on the legitimate use of force, as a result of globalisation ... This is a theoretically and empirically rich book, with broad implications for international relations and globalisation theory. It is exceptionally well written and will be of interest to scholars of these fields and also African studies.' P. Adraig Carmody, Journal of Modern African Studies '... provides rich empirical substance and food for thought to scholars from a variety of disciplines (evidenced by the substantial number of references to the authors' case studies by other scholars). This book is a very welcome addition to the growing, but limited, work on private security in Africa, and provides a new conceptual tool through which to engage with complex global and local security developments.' Julie Berg, African Affairs