Skills Lab 1
Academic Summary 1
“SECURITY STUDIES AND THE END OF THE COLD WAR”
, 2
This assignment is on a part of “Security studies and the end of the Cold War”, where the
most important segments of the article are discussed. The article was written by David A.
Baldwin and was published in 1995 in the journal “World Politics”, where Baldwin focuses
on the development of security studies. A reappraisal of security studies as a subfield of
international relations was needed, while authors could not agree on each other's views, when
talking about international politics (Baldwin, 1995, pp. 117-118). He applied different views
from scholars and authors to investigate international relationships and national security
before, during, and after the Cold War.
He starts by discussing the Interwar Period. According to Baldwin (1995), international
relations scholars believed that democracy and international understanding were important for
international peace (p. 119). They tended to underscore international law and organization and
therefore military force was less important. National security and military force became major
subjects for international relations scholars only after World War II (Baldwin, 1995, p. 120).
Second, Baldwin (1995) discusses the period between 1945 and 1955, and describes it as “the
most creative and exciting period in the entire history of security studies”, yet he also
disproves the misleading impression that security studies was created in that period (p. 121).
Those years were exciting because there was an increase in interest. Literature about national
security affairs was available in 1954 for anyone conducting research, which led to numerous
courses on international politics and foreign policy (Baldwin, 1995, p. 121). This caused the
building of new schools and research centers, and the attention was laid on the trade-offs
between military security and other values, not on military instruments.
Academic Summary 1
“SECURITY STUDIES AND THE END OF THE COLD WAR”
, 2
This assignment is on a part of “Security studies and the end of the Cold War”, where the
most important segments of the article are discussed. The article was written by David A.
Baldwin and was published in 1995 in the journal “World Politics”, where Baldwin focuses
on the development of security studies. A reappraisal of security studies as a subfield of
international relations was needed, while authors could not agree on each other's views, when
talking about international politics (Baldwin, 1995, pp. 117-118). He applied different views
from scholars and authors to investigate international relationships and national security
before, during, and after the Cold War.
He starts by discussing the Interwar Period. According to Baldwin (1995), international
relations scholars believed that democracy and international understanding were important for
international peace (p. 119). They tended to underscore international law and organization and
therefore military force was less important. National security and military force became major
subjects for international relations scholars only after World War II (Baldwin, 1995, p. 120).
Second, Baldwin (1995) discusses the period between 1945 and 1955, and describes it as “the
most creative and exciting period in the entire history of security studies”, yet he also
disproves the misleading impression that security studies was created in that period (p. 121).
Those years were exciting because there was an increase in interest. Literature about national
security affairs was available in 1954 for anyone conducting research, which led to numerous
courses on international politics and foreign policy (Baldwin, 1995, p. 121). This caused the
building of new schools and research centers, and the attention was laid on the trade-offs
between military security and other values, not on military instruments.
