Critical approaches
Petr Ocelík
MEB401 / MEB427 / ESS427
24th November 2016
Outline
• critical theory: assumptions
• security as derivative concept
• security as emancipation
• triangle of violence
Critical theory: assumptions
• Social actors are rational and capable to transform their environment
(Kantian moment).
• The social world primarily consists of socioeconomic structures which
are legitimized by dominant ideology (Marxist moment).
• These structures are objective (researcher-independent).
• Critical theory: what are these structures? How can these be removed?
Traditional vs. critical theory
• Max Horkheimer: Traditional vs. Critical Theory (1937).
• Traditional theories: explain and control certain
phenomena (naturalism and value-neutrality).
• Critical theories: (1) explain certain phenomena from
systemic perspective, (2) state a clear social goal, and (3)
propose a practical solution.
• Critical theory in IR: problem-solving vs. critical theories
(Robert Cox 1981).
Critical theory
• General formula (Spegele 2002): I study international relations to
emancipate [X] from structure or condition [Y] in order to achieve [Z].
• E.g.: I study IR to emancipate workers in sweatshops [X] from
exploitative work conditions [Y] in order to achieve more just society
[Z].
• Link (Deadly fashion): https://vimeo.com/143868534
• Link (Source): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Buo8CNKOBME
• Link (Niger delta): http://veroniquedeviguerie.com/project/the-oil-war-
niger-delta/#gallery/1940/441
Critical security studies (CSS)
• CSS established at the University of Aberystwyth around authors
such as Ken Booth, Richard W. Jones, and Andrew Linklater.
• Four dimensions of CSS (Jones 1999: 5):
• Broadening: inclusion of non-military issues.
• Deepening: philosophical and political assumptions are reflected.
• Extending: non-state actors are included (esp. human beings).
• Focusing: a clear normative objective (emancipation).
Security as derivative concept (deepening)
• Questions about security cannot be separated from the most basic
questions of political theory (Walker 1997).
• Theory is always for someone and for some purpose (Cox 1981: 129).
• Security is an epiphenomenon of political theory (Booth 2007).
• There is no common substantive definition of security  it should be
seen and used instrumentally  as an emancipatory tool.
Security as emancipation
• The “real security” is provided by emancipation.
• Emancipation (Booth 1991: 319): the freeing of people from those
physical and human constraints which stop them carrying out what
they would freely choose to do.
• The Critical theory is needed to (Booth 2007):
• Respond empirical curiosity.
• Pursue moral politics.
• Rise to the challenges of the time.
• It calls for action (Booth’s emancipatory realism).
Emancipatory realism
We can begin or continue pursuing emancipation in what we research,
in how we teach, in what we put on conference agendas, in how much
we support Greenpeace, Amnesty International, Oxfam and other
groups identifying with a global community, and in how we deal with
each other and with students. And in pursuing emancipation, the bases
of real security are being established. (Booth 1991: 326)
Summary
• Assumption: there are oppressive structures that produce power
inequalities that endanger particular social groups.
• The objective: politicization of the debate / transformation (removal
of oppressive structures) through emancipation.
• Security = emancipation.
• Active/activist role of the research: researcher should give a voice to
marginalized social groups.