This title was first published in 2001. The security dilemma has long been at the heart of the security studies discipline. Moving beyond this, this book attacks the assumptions of the traditional concept and redefines the security dilemma in a way more useful for examining security policy. By exposing the historical and social contingency of the traditional concept, the book argues that the security dilemma is an important though not a permanently operating feature of international politics. An examination of US policy towards the Soviet Union demonstrates the limits of perceiving the Cold War and challenges the role that American security policy has played in the process of constructing a transatlantic security community.

’In this challenging and innovative examination of the end of the Cold War, Jason Ralph has performed a huge service for the whole of the international relations community...A book that deserves to be read - and reread - by all those interested in moving beyond the truths of realism.’ Professor Michael Cox, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK ’...a useful explanation of the postmodern argument...’ Political Science Quarterly

Jason G. Ralph, Institute of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds, UK..