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CHAPTER 9
THE GLOBAL SECURITY STRUCTURE
Overview
Robert Kaplan’s words in the epigraph to the chapter capture the feelings of many realists and
neorealists who are perplexed by policies of U.S. president Donald Trump that appear to be
designed to tear down the world order established by the United States and its allies after
World War II. Trump has continually attacked NATO, the WTO, the G-7, and the G20, and in
May 2018 he declared that he was pulling the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal. In his
verbal jousting with North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un, he has on several occasions said that
nuclear war may be necessary if Kim does not completely denuclearize his country. Since the
Cuban Missile Crisis, talk of starting a nuclear conflict has been regarded as irrational.
Many experts are also disconcerted by Trump’s admiration for nationalist populist leaders
who have weakened democratic institutions. He has started trade wars while giving little
attention to human rights or the consequences of his actions. He admits to only thinking about
how he “feels” about something and is not afraid to reverse himself. These decision-making
In this chapter we discuss classical realism and neorealism, putting them into perspective with
mercantilism, neoliberalism, structuralism, and constructivism. We provide historical
overviews of the global security structures that correspond to the three phases of the postwar
order (discussed in Chapter 1). We also shed light on how and why each of these
configurations of military power and economic wealth has shifted over time to produce a new
structural arrangement that still reflects some elements of the structure before it. We contend
that in the global security structure today actors are less constrained by an international
systemic structure than they were during the Cold War.
We then explore chronologically some recent security dilemmas that the major powers have
dealt with such as the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Traditional security issues such
as conventional war and the prevention of nuclear war have increasingly been supplanted by
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Key Terms
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global security structure (GSS)
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classical realism
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neorealism
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neoconservatism
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unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
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red line
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deterrence
Teaching Tips
• Use an introduction such as the one above to generate some interest in the topic. Use small
groups to answer some questions and generate student ideas that can be put up on the
board.
• We suggest that you spend some time on nuclear strategy because its basics carry over to
the possibility of nuclear war and the possible consequences of cyberwarfare. Emphasize
that all weapons are used for political ends; they are not just employed to fight wars.
• Discuss the increasing role of drones and cyberweapons and how technology is playing a
bigger role in security issues. Some believe that cyberweapons could render nuclear
weapons useless and might be able to completely overwhelm the weapons systems of other
states. Do cyberweapons ramp up the threats states feel when they are perpetually
vulnerable? Could cyberweapons lead to nuclear war and/or military conflict?
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• Focus on how the security policies and outlooks of the Obama and Trump administrations
differ. This is also a place to peak student interest and reference Trump administration
policies toward Europe, China, and Russia.
• We strongly recommend that you spend some time on the Middle East section. Ask
students to skim it and then read it again. Don’t expect too much given the likelihood that
they have little background. Add more detail depending on your background or invite in a
guest lecturer who is a Middle East expert.
• Conclude by mentioning where the global security order seems to be heading in the near
future. Or make it a question with the possibility of a major shift in the military, economic,
and political capabilities of China, Russia, and India.
Sample Essay Questions
1. These issues would make good class discussion topics. They could also be topics for a
formal essay that requires students to use IPE tools in their analysis.
a. The Cold War. Is another one shaping up? Between which powers?
b. Nuclear strategy. How does it shape the U.S.-North Korea standoff?
Sample Multiple-Choice Questions
1) Which of these associations is incorrect?
2) Which of the following about the Cuban Missile Crisis is incorrect?
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a) The Soviets placed medium-range ballistic missiles in Cuba.
d) He was famous for shuttle diplomacy.
4) This peanut farmer became president of the United States and supported more idealism
and human rights when it came to international security policies.
a) Lyndon Johnson
5) Which of the following is not associated with President Reagan?
a) Labeling the USSR the “evil empire”
6) The George W. Bush administration’s desire for U.S. hegemony was reflected chiefly in:
a) Its promotion of economic liberal trade policies
7) According to Chalmers Johnson, the source of U.S. imperial behavior is
a) President Obama’s roots in Africa
8) Which of the following is not something the Obama administration adopted to deal with
Middle East conflicts?
a) It did not prosecute CIA employees who had waterboarded terrorist suspects.
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9) Which of the following about drones is untrue?
a) They save the lives of many military personnel.
10) Stuxnet is a
a) WMD.
11) This group, which used to be al-Qaeda in Iraq, split from the Nusra Front and eventually
seized a wide swath of territory in Iraq, including the city of Mosul, where it declared a
caliphate.
12) Which of the following measures did the Trump administration not adopt in response to
North Korea’s buildup and testing of long range ICBMs?
a) Threatening to respond to a North Korean attack on the United States with “fire and
13) Who labeled Trump a “mentally deranged U.S. dotard”?
a) Barack Obama
14) According to many realists, which of the following is not one of Russia’s strategies to
enhance national power, preserve sovereignty, and balance against the United States?
a) defying one of the key norms of the liberal world order by acquiring territory by force
in Ukraine
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15) When it comes to cyber security issues, which of the following statements is not true?
a) The world increasingly relies on information technology to manage national security
and public infrastructure, which makes nations vulnerable to crippling cyberattacks
that could spark a war, requiring them to establish norms and rules to reduce cyber
conflict and guide conduct when attacks occur.
Suggested Readings and Links
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. http://carnegieendowment.org/.
United Nations Security Council. http://www.un.org/en/sc/.
United States Institute for Peace. https://www.usip.org/.
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Audiovisual Resources
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Stanley Kubrick,
dir. Hawk Films, 1964. A classic.
Netwars/Out of CTRL. Marcel Kovenbach, dir. Filmtank, in co-production with ZDF/ARTE,
2014. “The new arms race is online. From secret labs in Israel and China to the NSA and
Las Vegas hacker conventions, this terrifying doc shows just how real the danger is –
including a real hack into a real power plant” (Global Screen website). An interactive
version of the documentary is at http://www.netwars-project.com/.
North Korea’s Nuclear Trump Card. Narrated by Jane Corbin. BBC Panorama, 2017.
Obama at War. A FRONTLINE production with RAINmedia, 2015. At
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/obama-at-war/. “Veteran FRONTLINE
filmmaker Martin Smith goes inside the Obama administration’s struggle to deal with ISIS
and the deadly civil war in Syria. With interviews from key military and diplomatic
leaders, the documentary examines the hard choices facing the president as he tries to
defeat the Islamic State without dragging America into a prolonged regional conflict”
(Frontline website).
Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade. Johan Grimonprez, dir. Shadow World
Productions, 2016. Based on the book of the same name by Andrew Feinstein. “The film
explores how governments, their militaries and intelligence agencies, defense contractors,
arms dealers and agents are inextricably intertwined with the international trade in
weapons, and how that trade fosters corruption, determines economic and foreign policies,
undermines democracies and creates human suffering” (PBS Independent Lens website).
At http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/videos/shadow-world-full-film/.