CONCEPTUALIZING HEGEMONIC INSTABILITY AND ITS LINKAGE WITH “SECURITY DILEMMA” AS A CAUSAL FACTOR, THROUGH A CONSTRUCTIVIST FRAMEWORK
CONCEPTUALIZING HEGEMONIC INSTABILITY AND ITS LINKAGE WITH “SECURITY DILEMMA” AS A CAUSAL FACTOR, THROUGH A CONSTRUCTIVIST FRAMEWORK

Author(s): S. Rafique
Subject(s): Security and defense
Published by: Carol I National Defence University Publishing House
Keywords: Security Dilemma; Constructivism; Greedy State; Security-seeking behavior; Hegemonic Instability; Ontological Security
Summary/Abstract: This Paper introduces the concept of Hegemonic Instability as a possible causal factor for “Security Dilemma” under a constructivist framework. For the above purposes, the Paper starting by re-examining the concept of “Security Dilemma” and its core constituent elements through the prism of Constructivism and argues that these notions can be better explained through the constructivist line of argument. Following up on this course of narrative, the Paper then charts a paradigmatic shift from the oft quoted “Hegemonic Stability Theory” and argues that rather than contributing towards stability, the Hegemonic State, owing to its revisionist and expansionist tendencies, nurtures instability in its system/region thus inviting in its wake, a counter-response from the weaker/dominated States, who mostly tend towards an extra-regional power, as a deterrence against the existing Hegemon and for countering its hegemonic ambitions. The paper concludes with the argument that the action-reaction dyad generated by the Hegemonic State’s destabilizing maneuvers and actions within its region therefore lead to the generation of “Security Dilemma”.

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