Security in International Law Since 1990

Abstract

The term security has different meanings in several social science disciplines. For political science and sociology, the term is used as a tool to better understand and explain political and societal processes and problems. For national and international law, it is by definition a normative concept. Like any legal concept or notion, it is an element of composite norms which are to induce a certain human behaviour, and hereby also the behaviour of legal persons or collectivities. Despite this fundamental difference, the international legal notion of security and the political and political science debate on security are closely related (chap. 4 by Wæver; chap. 37 by Baylis, chap. 38 by Albrecht/ Brauch). The law is made, developed, and applied by political actors. Thus, the application and the creation of norms are part of political processes, and the law is an element of steering political processes — the very subject political science tries to explain.