The Post - Westphalian State, National Security Cultures, and Global Security Governance

This paper has two goals. The first is to investigate how the transition from the Westphalian to the post-Westphalian state, particularly in Europe, requires a reconceptualization of our approach the problem of security, in terms of content and form. The second goal is to assess how national security cultures shape national responses to four categories of national security governance policies: assurance (post-conflict interventions), prevention (pre-conflict interventions), protection (internal security), and compellence (military intervention). This line of enquiry is predicated upon two key assumptions: first, states can no longer be treated as homogeneous actors; and second, national responses to external threats are shaped by structural variables (e.g., the distribution of power) and agency circumscribed by the proscriptions and prescriptions of national security cultures. These assumptions bring forward the problem of reconciling state structure and the agency of national elites in the formulation of security policies, particularly in a comparative framework.