"Security Practices" in Robert A DENEMARK (ed.) International Studies Encyclopedia Online. Blackwell Publishing, 2010. Blackwell Reference Online. 18 March 2010

 A large part of the international relations (IR) literature, which claims to be pragmatist, positivist, and realist, in fact ignores the diversity of practices labeled as security and is highly idealist in the neo-platonic sense of the word. They believe in capturing the essence of the world through words. Their search for a definition of security (as good) opposed to insecurity (as bad) is always normative and often accepts the position of the dominant speaker. The study of security is done in the interest of someone. The confusion between security, state national interest, and reason of state repeatedly structures the narrative. The contribution of scholars coming from sociology, criminology, and history is largely ignored. Security is reduced to an international relations problem disconnected from other bodies of knowledge. This is an error that we try to correct in this essay