Security Dilemma - Criticisms of The Security Dilemma and Responses

Criticisms of The Security Dilemma and Responses

According to Wendt, “Security dilemmas are not given by anarchy or nature” but, rather, are “a social structure composed of intersubjective understandings in which states are so distrustful that they make worst-case assumptions about each other's intentions”.

Glaser argues that Wendt mischaracterised the security dilemma. “Wendt is using the security dilemma to describe the result of states’ interaction whereas Jervis and the literature he has spawned use the security dilemma to refer to a situation created by the material conditions facing states, such as geography and prevailing technology”. According to Wendt because the security dilemma is the result of one state’s interaction with another, a state can adopt policies which hinder the security dilemma. Glaser blames Wendt for “exaggerating the extent to which structural realism calls for competitive policies and, therefore, the extent to which it leads to security dilemmas”. Glaser argues that though offensive realists presume that in an international system a state has to compete for power, the security dilemma is a concept mainly used by defensive realists and according to defensive realists it is beneficial for nations to cooperate under certain circumstances.

Another mode of criticism of the security dilemma concept is to question the validity of the offence-defense balance. Since weapons of offense and of defense are the same, how can the distinction between the two be connected with a state’s intentions? As a result, critics have questioned whether the offense-defense balance can be used as a variable in explaining international conflicts. According to Glaser, criticisms of the offense-defense balance are based on two misunderstandings. First, the sameness or difference of offensive weapons compared with defensive weapons does not impact the offense-defense balance itself. Offense-defense theory assumes that both parties in conflict will use those weapons that suit their strategy and goals. Second, whether both states involved in the conflict have some common weapons between them is the wrong question to ask in seeking to understand the offense-defense balance. Instead, critics should focus on the influence or net effect of weapons used in the conflict. According to Glaser, “Distinguishability should be defined by comparative net assessment” or the comparison of the balance of offense-defense when both sides use weapons versus when neither side is using weapons.