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Barry Buzan | |
|---|---|
 Buzan in 2019 on a panel at the University of London | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Barry Gordon Buzan (1946-04-28)28 April 1946 (age 79) |
| Nationality | British |
| Spouse | Deborah Skinner |
| Relatives | B. F. Skinner (father-in-law) |
| Residence(s) | London, England |
Barry Gordon Buzan, FBA, FAcSS (born 28 April 1946) is a British political scientist. He is an emeritus Professor of International Relations at theLondon School of Economics and an honorary professor at theUniversity of Copenhagen andJilin University. Until 2012 he wasMontague Burton Professor of International Relations at the LSE. Buzan sketched theRegional Security Complex Theory and is therefore together withOle Wæver a central figure of theCopenhagen School.
From 1988 to 2002 he was Project Director at theCopenhagen Peace Research Institute (COPRI). From 1995 to 2002 he was research Professor of International Studies at theUniversity of Westminster, and before that Professor of International Studies at theUniversity of Warwick. During 1993 he was visiting professor at theInternational University of Japan, and in 1997–8 he was Olof Palme Visiting professor in Sweden.
He was Chairman of theBritish International Studies Association 1988–90, vice-president of the (North American)International Studies Association 1993–4, and founding Secretary of the International Studies Coordinating Committee 1994–8. From 1999 to 2011 he was the general coordinator of a project to reconvene theEnglish school of international relations theory, and from 2004 to 2008 he was editor of theEuropean Journal of International Relations. In 1998 he was elected a fellow of theBritish Academy, and in 2001 he was elected to theAcademy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences.
Buzan defines his interests as:
Buzan was a major contributor to theCopenhagen School of political thought, connecting the concept ofsecuritization to theregional security complex theory.[1]
Buzan's 1983 textPeople, States and Fear had a significant impact on criticism of the prevailing state-centric views of the international system.[2] Buzan contended that understandings ofnational security should be broadened to address systemic concerns involving individuals, states, and the entire international system.[2] In this view, economic, social, and environmental factors of security should be considered in addition to political and military aspects of security.[2]
Buzan was born in London, but his family emigrated to Canada in 1954. He holds Canadian andUnited Kingdom citizenship. He attendedKitsilano Secondary School in Vancouver, British Columbia. Buzan is a graduate of theUniversity of British Columbia (1968) where he started an uncompleted master programme. He received his doctorate at the London School of Economics (1973). He describes his political views associal democratic and his religious views asextremesecularist.[3]
Buzan's wife, Deborah Skinner, is an artist and youngest daughter of psychologistB. F. Skinner.[4][5] They have no children. His brother was authorTony Buzan, with whom he co-authoredThe Mind Map Book.[6]
Buzan won theAmerican Society of International Law's 1982 Francis Deak Prize for his articleNavigating by Consensus: Developments in the Technique at the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea.[7]
