Security Revisited

Abstract

This publication reflects on twelve years of research conducted within the Collaborative Research Centre/Transregio 138 “Dynamics of Security: Securitization in Historical Perspective” (2014–2025). The volume focuses on key questions and perspectives in historical and social scientific security research in light of recent political and societal developments. Based on a constructivist understanding of security, the contributions explore how security concepts, threat perceptions, and practices of securitization emerged, evolved, and became politically effective in different historical contexts. The authors examine both continuity and change in understandings of security and their implications for political orders, social conflicts, and forms of collective action. The contributions demonstrate how historical perspectives can help contextualize and critically assess contemporary challenges such as pandemics, wars, and geopolitical tensions. The volume highlights the multifaceted nature of security as a historically contingent and contested concept and emphasizes the relevance of historical security research for understanding contemporary political and societal developments.