Critical and postmodern readings of strategic culture and Southern African security in the 1990s

Abstract

ABSTRACT Traditional approaches to the study of International Relations have been premised on the Realist world view wherein the turbulence and complexity of global life are funnelled into a caricatured narrative based on rigid interpretations of state sovereignty and international anarchy. In its place, this essay proposes a more reflexivist and critical (postmodernist) approach which, it is argued, provides a more nuanced account of the ambiguities and paradoxes of contemporary global politics. It is within this alternative world view that this essay locates the concept of strategic culture. Strategic culture refers to a nation's traditional attitudes and behaviour with respect to the threat and use of force. The essay suggests that if the concept is employed as a heuristic device, it promises to reveal the strategic disposition of the various countries in the region with regard to peace, conflict, force and the prospects for regional conflict‐resolution. In so doing, the concept can help discover wheth...