People, States and Fear: An Agenda for International Security Studies in the Post-Cold War Era

This widely acclaimed book examines how states and societies pursue freedom from threat in an environment in which competitive relations are inescapable across the political, economic, military, societal and environmental landscapes. Throughout, attention is placed on the interplay of threats and vulnerabilities, the policy consequences of overemphasising one or the other, and the existence of contradictions within and between ideas about security. Barry Buzan argues that the concept of security is a versatile, penetrating and useful way to approach the study of international relations. Security provides an analytical framework between the extremes of power and peace, incorporates most of their insights - and adds more of its own. People, States & Fearis essential reading for all students and researchers of international politics and security studies. 25th Anniversary Edition: A new introduction, placing this classic text in a current context, was added to this book by the author in 2007.


About the Author
Barry Buzan is a Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics, and honorary professor at the University of Copenhagen. He has published and broadcast extensively in the field of international relations. He took his first degree at the University of British Columbia (1968), and his doctorate at the London School of Economics (1973). From 1988 to 2002 he was Project Director at the Copenhagen Peace Research Institute (COPRI). From 1995 to 2002 he was research Professor of International Studies at the University of Westminster, and before that Professor of International Studies at the University of Warwick. During 1993 he was visiting professor at the International University of Japan, and in 1997-8 he was Olof Palme Visiting Professor in Sweden. He was Chairman of the British International Studies Association 1988-90, Vice-President of the (North American) International Studies Association 1993-4, and founding Secretary of the International Studies Coordinating Committee 1994-8. Since 1999 he has been the general coordinator of a project to reconvene the English school of International Relations, and from 2004 he is editor of the European Journal of International Relations. In 1998 he was elected a fellow of the British Academy, and in 2001 he was elected as an Academician of the Association of Learned Societies in the Social Sciences.