Racialization and International Security

• Published in: International security Vol. 48; no. 2; pp. 91 - 126
• Main Author: Maass, Richard W
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington DC The MIT Press 01.10.2023; Project Muse; MIT Press Journals, The
• Subjects: Civil war; Cooperation; Diplomacy; Equality; Ethnic identity; Ethnicity; Interdisciplinary aspects; International conflict; International cooperation; International security; Nuclear proliferation; Political power; Power; Race; Race relations; Racial identity; Racialization; Racism; Research design; Security, International; Terrorism; World politics; UNITED STATES
• ISSN: 0162-2889; 1531-4804
• DOI: 10.1162/isec_a_00470

Racialization fundamentally shapes the exercise of political power, and it deserves thorough consideration within security studies. Understood as the processes that infuse social and political phenomena with racial identities and implications, racialization is itself an assertion of power, interweaving purportedly inherent differences with patterns of authority and violence throughout the modern era. Despite the ªeld's consistent interest in power, international security studies in the United States largely omitted racial dynamics from decades of debates over international conflict and cooperation, nuclear proliferation, power transitions, unipolarity, civil wars, terrorism, international order, grand strategy, and other subjects. Even amid growing recognition of this "willful amnesia," there remains substantial uncertainty regarding how best to reintegrate the studies of race and security. This article jump-starts that process by laying conceptual bedrock, charting promising research opportunities, cultivating interdisciplinary dialogues, and bringing a wide range of related scholarship to bear on key questions of international security.