From Homer to Hobbes and Beyond – Aspects of ‘Security’ in the European Tradition

Abstract

This article examines the historical development of the concept of security in two phases. In the first phase, the word coined by the Romans as ‘securitas’ and accompanied from the beginning by ambivalence and religious connotations had conceded most of its territory to ‘certitudo’ at the end of the Middle Ages. In the second phase starting in the times of Thomas Hobbes, it became one of the paradigmatic ‘great words’ of the modern state. In this phase, ‘security’ became associated with the genesis of the authoritarian ‘super state’ committed to the prevention of civil war. This article starts by elaborating the connection between Thomas Hobbes and the ancient Greek historian Thucydides and proceeds by examining the usages of the concept by several contemporary authors.

Keywords

Security, Securitas, Hobbes, Thucydides.

Citation

Arends, J. Frederik M., “From Homer to Hobbes and Beyond – Aspects of ‘Security’ in the European Tradition”, International Relations, Volume 6, Issue 22 (Summer 2009), pp. 3-33.

Affiliations

• J. Frederik M. Arends, Dr., Bonaventura College