The Security imaginary: Explaining military isomorphism
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Date
2008
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Sage
Abstract
This article proposes the notion of a security imaginary as a heuristic
tool for exploring military isomorphism (the phenomenon that
weapons and military strategies begin to look the same across the
world) at a time when the US model of defence transformation is
being adopted by an increasing number of countries. Built on a critical
constructivist foundation, the security-imaginary approach is contrasted
with rationalist and neo-institutionalist ways of explaining
military diffusion and emulation. Merging cultural and constructivist
themes, the article offers a ‘strong cultural’ argument to explain why a
country would emulate a foreign military model and how this model is
constituted in and comes to constitute a society’s security imaginary.
Description
Keywords
Military, Security, Imperialism, Constructivism
Citation
Pretorius. J. (2008). The Security imaginary: Explaining military isomorphism. Security Dialogue. 39(1): 97-118