A security community is a region

Region

Region is most commonly found as a term used in terrestrial and astrophysics sciences also an area, notably among the different sub-disciplines of geography, studied by regional geographers. Regions consist of subregions that contain clusters of like areas that are distinctive by their uniformity...

 in which a large-scale use of violence

Violence

Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...

 (such as war

War

War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...

) has become very unlikely or even unthinkable. The term was coined by the prominent political scientist Karl Deutsch

Karl Deutsch

Karl Wolfgang Deutsch was a Czech social and political scientist from a German speaking family. His work focused on the study of war and peace, nationalism, co-operation and communication...

 in 1957. In their seminal work Political community and the North Atlantic area: international organization in the light of historical experience, Deutsch and his collaborators defined a security community as “a group of people” believing “that they have come to agreement on at least this one point: that common social problems must and can be resolved by processes of ‘peaceful change’”. Peaceful change was defined as “the resolution of social problems, normally by institutionalized procedures, without resort to large-scale physical force”. People in a security community are also bound by the “sense of community

Community

The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...

”, the mutual sympathy, trust, and common interests. The concept has not become a mainstream

Mainstream

Mainstream is, generally, the common current thought of the majority. However, the mainstream is far from cohesive; rather the concept is often considered a cultural construct....

 term in the field of international security

International security

International security consists of the measures taken by nations and international organizations, such as the United Nations, to ensure mutual survival and safety. These measures include military action and diplomatic agreements such as treaties and conventions. International and national security...

 despite its long history. But after the end of the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

, it has been adapted by constructivist

Constructivism in international relations

In the discipline of international relations, constructivism is the claim that significant aspects of international relations are historically and socially contingent, rather than inevitable consequences of human nature or other essential characteristics of world politics.-Development:Nicholas Onuf...

 scholars. A major impetus was the book Security Communities (1998) edited by Emanuel Adler

Emanuel Adler

Professor Emanuel Adler is an academic at the University of Toronto. He currently holds the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Chair in Israel Studies in the department of Political Science and is associated with constructivism in international relations theory....

 and Michael Barnett

Michael Barnett

Michael N. Barnett is a major constructivist scholar of international relations. His research has been in the areas of international organizations, international relations theory, and Middle Eastern politics. With Emanuel Adler, he reintroduced the concept of security community to international...

. They redefined the security community by shared identities, values, and meanings, many-sided direct interactions, and reciprocal long-term interest. Several regions of the world have been studied in the security community framework since then, most notably the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

, the American-Canadian and American-Mexican dyad

Dyad

Dyad may refer to:*Dyad , a pair of sister chromatids occurring in prophase I of meiosis; may also be used to describe protein morphology*Dyad , Greek philosophers' principle of "twoness" or "otherness"...

s, Mercosur

Mercosur

Mercosur or Mercosul is an economic and political agreement among Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Founded in 1991 by the Treaty of Asunción, which was later amended and updated by the 1994 Treaty of Ouro Preto. Its purpose is to promote free trade and the fluid movement of goods, people,...

, and ASEAN.

Types of security communities

Deutsch divided security communities into two types: the amalgamated and pluralistic ones. Amalgamated security communities are quite rare in history. They are created when two or more previously independent state

Sovereign state

A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...

s form a common government. An example is the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 after the original thirteen colonies

Thirteen Colonies

The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...

 ceded much of their governing powers to the federal

Federation

A federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...

 government. Amalgamation is not always successful and can be overturned, as the failed Union between Sweden and Norway

Union between Sweden and Norway

The Union between Sweden and Norway , officially the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, consisted of present-day Sweden and Norway between 1814 and 1905, when they were united under one monarch in a personal union....

 exemplifies. An alternative and less ambitious process is called integration

Regional integration

Regional integration is a process in which states enter into a regional agreement in order to enhance regional cooperation through regional institutions and rules...

. Integration leads to a pluralistic security community, in which states retain their sovereignty. The United States with Canada is an example of a pluralistic security community. Both countries are politically independent, but they do not expect to have future military confrontations, in spite of having had some

War of 1812

The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

 in the past. Deutsch argued that the pluralistic security communities are easier to establish and maintain than their amalgamated counterparts.

Adler and Barnett described the typical evolution of a security community from nascent to ascendant to mature. A nascent security community meets the basic expectations of peaceful change, while a mature security community is also characterized by some collective security

Collective security

Collective security can be understood as a security arrangement, regional or global, in which each state in the system accepts that the security of one is the concern of all, and agrees to join in a collective response to threats to, and breaches of, the peace...

 mechanisms and supranational or transnational

Transnationalism

Transnationalism is a social movement and scholarly research agenda grown out of the heightened interconnectivity between people and the receding economic and social significance of boundaries among nation states....

 elements. Adler and Barnett further divided the mature security communities into “tightly” and “loosely coupled”, depending on the level of their integration.

Raimo Väyrynen and Andrej Tusicisny differentiated between interstate security communities (where war between states is unlikely) and comprehensive security communities (where both interstate conflicts and civil wars are seen as unthinkable). Western Europe

Western Europe

Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...

 is a classic example of a comprehensive security community, while South East Asia is usually seen as an interstate security community.

Conditions leading to a security community

According to Deutsch, states may form a security community if the current state of the international system

International system

The term international system may refer to:* In politics, international relations* In the sciences, the International System of Units...

 increases “unattractiveness and improbability of war among the political units concerned”. For instance, security concerns led the United States and Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 to form a pluralistic security community in anticipation of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Deutsch identified two conditions that should facilitate formation of a pluralistic security community. The first one is “the capacity of the participating political units or governments to respond to each other’s needs, messages, and actions quickly, adequately, and without resort to violence”. States can build this capacity for example by the common membership in international organization

International organization

An intergovernmental organization, sometimes rendered as an international governmental organization and both abbreviated as IGO, is an organization composed primarily of sovereign states , or of other intergovernmental organizations...

s. The second condition is the “compatibility of major values

Value (personal and cultural)

A personal or cultural value is an absolute or relative ethical value, the assumption of which can be the basis for ethical action. A value system is a set of consistent values and measures. A principle value is a foundation upon which other values and measures of integrity are based...

 relevant to political decision-making”. An example of a major politically relevant value given by Deutsch is political ideology

Ideology

An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...

. However, more recent empirical research showed that the often hypothesized role of liberal

Liberalism

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

 values and general trust in the development of security communities is overestimated.

Since amalgamation is more demanding than integration, Deutsch identified eight conditions that should be satisfied if amalgamation is to succeed: the mutual compatibility of main values, a distinctive way of life, capabilities and processes of cross-cutting communication

Communication

Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...

, high geographic

Population mobility

Population mobility, geographic mobility or more simply mobility is a statistic that measures migration within a population. It is most commonly used in demography and human geography, it may also be used to describe the movement of animals between populations.Mobility estimates in the Current...

 and social

Social mobility

Social mobility refers to the movement of people in a population from one social class or economic level to another. It typically refers to vertical mobility -- movement of individuals or groups up from one socio-economic level to another, often by changing jobs or marrying; but can also refer to...

 mobility, multiplicity and balance of transactions, a significant frequency of some interchange in group roles, a broadening of the political elite

Elite

Elite refers to an exceptional or privileged group that wields considerable power within its sphere of influence...

, high political and administrative capabilities. In addition, the politically relevant strata

Social stratification

In sociology the social stratification is a concept of class, involving the "classification of persons into groups based on shared socio-economic conditions ... a relational set of inequalities with economic, social, political and ideological dimensions."...

 of the population should be willing to accept and support common governmental institutions, remain loyal to them, and operate these common institutions with mutual attention to the messages and needs of all participating units.

Dr Carol Weaver has posited that, in order to arise and endure, security communities need to be based on balanced multipolarity.

Other uses

The term security community may also refer to a policy community working on issues of security

Security

Security is the degree of protection against danger, damage, loss, and crime. Security as a form of protection are structures and processes that provide or improve security as a condition. The Institute for Security and Open Methodologies in the OSSTMM 3 defines security as "a form of protection...

. It can be a hierarchical

Hierarchy

A hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another...

 or networked

Social network

A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...

 group of professionals consisting, for instance, of politicians, military and civilian bureaucrats, and researchers. An example is the computer security community working on computer security

Computer security

Computer security is a branch of computer technology known as information security as applied to computers and networks. The objective of computer security includes protection of information and property from theft, corruption, or natural disaster, while allowing the information and property to...

.