Securing the postcolonial

Abstract

This chapter considers the following question: Should 'security' be a point of departure when thinking about the postcolonial? In considering this question, it focuses on debates on cosmopolitanism and security. Cosmopolitan approaches to security have focused on concerns the security of peoples beyond one's own borders plus the global environment. While 'security' may not necessarily invoke warm feelings in the mind of the postcolonial, securing peoples and the global environment has nevertheless continued to top postcolonial state agendas. The chapter outlines the standard realist perspective on security pertaining the global South. Accordingly, the responsibility for insecurities experienced in the global South is placed on the doorstep of the postcolonial. The point is that the standard realist narrative on security in the global South has rested on 'particular' notions of statehood and security that limit the understanding of postcolonial insecurities.