Security regime

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A type of Security Community as identified by Amitav Acharya in Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia1. Identified as characteristics of a Security Regime (as opposed to say Collective Defence) are:

  • Principles, rules and norms that regulate state behaviour.
  • The arms race continues and contingency planning for war frequently continue. Some mechanisms may be adopted to limit the arms race.
  • The peace within the community is not permanent and is due to factors that are transient or it may be to an inability to go to war due to balance of power, deterrent or weakness within parties.

The Cold War can be seen as a Security Regime between the Soviet and American sides. Peace in that situation was not due to a fundamental commitment to peace but mutual deterrence and relative weakness.

[edit] References

1Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia, Amitav Acharya, Routledge.