Identity and security: Buzan and the Copenhagen school

Abstract

Since the publication in 1983 of the first edition of People, States and Fear , Barry Buzan's work has established itself—for European scholars, at least—as the canon and indispensable reference point for students of security. His book and the revisions of the second edition (1991) have been the stimulus for further exploration of the security problem at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Research in Copenhagen. Together with Buzan, the collaborators have produced several publications on the security theme, sufficiently interrelated to warrant the collective shorthand, the ‘Copenhagen school’ of security studies.