The State and Dilemmas of Security: The Middle East and the Balkans

• Published in: Security dialogue Vol. 33; no. 4; pp. 415 - 427
• Main Author: MESSARI, NIZAR
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London SAGE Publications 01-12-2002
• Subjects: Balkan States; Citizenship; Civil war; Ethnic groups; International relations; International security; Middle East; National Identity; National Security; Peacetime; Plural Societies; Political security; Security dilemma; Southeast Europe; Sovereign states; Sovereignty; State; State formation; State Role; State-society relations; Territories; Third World
• ISSN: 0967-0106; 1460-3640
• DOI: 10.1177/0967010602033004003

This article argues that even if the state represents a solution to the security needs of one group of people, it may be a source of threat to another. This is so because the construction of the state is necessarily an exclusive process, and those who are excluded in some cases become a source of threat. In addition, the state sometimes represents a threat to its own people. In sum, on the basis of an existing critical literature within security studies, the article questions the role of the state in maintaining security. In this context, it utilizes the debate on identity formation to defend the necessity of constructing open and inclusive political spaces. It then applies this theoretical discussion to the cases of the Middle East and the Balkans, and argues that the alternative to the sovereign state that is being put in place in the Balkans might represent a valuable example for the Middle East.