Conceptual Quartet: Security and its Linkages with Peace, Development, and Environment

Abstract

As a political term and as a scientific concept 'security' has been closely related to 'peace', the combined goals in the UN Charter. The other two concepts 'development' and 'environment' have been added to the national and international agenda in the 1950’s and since the 1970’s. In colloquial language, and in national and international politics, as well as in the scientific analysis of international relations these four concepts form a conceptual quartet and with each of these basic concepts a specialized research programme is associated: of security studies, peace, development, and environmental research. While these concepts have been widely used in the social sciences (sociology, psychology, economics, political science, international relations) systematic conceptual analyses of these four terms have been rare in international relations and in the four policy-oriented research programmes (Wæver 2006).