The Human Security Agenda: How Middle Power Leadership Defied U.S. Hegemony.

• Author: Ozsahin, Mustafa Cuneyt
• Position: Book review

The Human Security Agenda: How Middle Power Leadership Defied U.S. Hegemony

By Ronald M. Behringer

New York: Continuum, 2012, 221 pages, $100.00, ISBN: 978144113133.

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There is no doubt that the 1990s were the years when the concept of human security came into popularity not only within scholarly circles but also political ones. Since then, a large body of literature has been accumulated dealing with the topic of human security in terms of its theoretical and practical dimensions. In The Human Security Agenda, Ronald M. Behringer aims to contribute to the current literature by interrogating the capacity of middle powers in undertaking a human security agenda under American hegemony. The author successfully illustrates how the U.S. government in some cases engages in activities to prevent middle powers from exercising their human security agenda.

This book falls into eight sections; in the first chapter Behringer introduces the concept of human security, ranging from minimalist to maximalist definitions, by drawing from the relevant literature (pp. 13-16). Surveying the literature related to power hierarchy in world politics, the author similarly elaborates on the concept of middle powermanship (pp. 16-19). While the second chapter provides an overall theoretical background (pp. 9-28), the last one offers a final assessment related to the human security measures undertaken by middle powers (pp. 163174). Five diverse cases are used as examples to account for the human security applications throughout the book, some of which were successful, while some were not (pp. 164, 170-172). However, Behringer claims that it is still possible for middle powers to play a leadership role in some issues and to become "securitizing actors" in a political atmosphere shaped by U.S. hegemony (pp. 9, 12). For each case, the author starts with unfolding the unique historical process involved, with a specific reference to the role of middle powers. Following this historical narrative, the author illustrates the reaction of the U.S. as a global hegemon in the face of initiatives taken by middle powers on the international stage.

The cases Behringer puts forward throughout this study can be subsumed under two groups: ones which the U.S. government, as a hegemonic power, strongly resisted, and ones to which the U.S. government gave explicit or tacit consent (pp. 164, 167-170). For example, the project undertaken by a cohort of middle powers to...