Security studies in the context of "Defense contractors"

International security is a term which refers to the measures taken by states and international organizations, such as the United Nations, European Union, and others, to ensure mutual survival and safety. These measures include military action and diplomatic agreements such as treaties and conventions. International and national security are invariably linked. International security is national security or state security in the global arena.

By the end of World War II, a new subject of academic study, security studies, focusing on international security emerged. It began as an independent field of study, but was absorbed as a sub-field of international relations. Since it took hold in the 1950s, the study of international security has been at the heart of international relations. It covers areas such as security studies, strategic studies, peace studies, and other areas.

In security studies and international relations, a police action is a military action undertaken without a formal declaration of war. In the 21st century, the term has been largely supplanted by "counter-insurgency". Since World War II, formal declarations of war have been rare, especially military actions conducted by the Global North during the Cold War. Rather, nations involved in military conflict (especially the great powers) sometimes describe the conflict by fighting the war under the auspices of a "police action" to show that it is a limited military operation, different from total war.

The earliest use of the phrase dates back to 1883, describing attempts by Dutch and British forces to liberate the 28-man crew of the SS Nisero, who were held hostage in Sumatra. The Dutch term politionele acties (police actions) was used for this. The Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary: Eleventh Edition called it in its 1933 issue; a localized military action undertaken without formal declaration of war by regular armed forces against persons (as guerrillas or aggressors) held to be violators of international peace and order. It was also used to imply a formal claim of sovereignty by colonial powers, such as in the military actions of the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Western powers during conflicts such as the Indonesian National Revolution and the Malayan Emergency.

Political security is one of five sectors of analysis under the framework of the Copenhagen School of security studies.

As a Human Security Approach, the concept of political security was briefly defined in the 1994 Human Development Report (HDR) as the prevention of government repression, systematic human rights violations, and threats from militarisation, it has not been widely taken as a serious framework in scholarly or policy circles. The HDR's original intent was to establish an agenda protecting individuals from state-led repression, including political persecution, torture, and enforced disappearances. However, the notion of political security has since evolved more in response to immediate crises and the practical realities of international relations than in adherence to the HDR's initial parameters. In practice, discussions of political security have become intertwined with debates on humanitarian assistance and intervention. Throughout the 1990s, this largely focused on the legitimacy of humanitarian intervention, which later developed into the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) framework in the 2000s. By the second decade of the 21st century, however, it became evident that a more complex and nuanced approach was necessary to address the challenges associated with implementing political security in practice.

A public policy school or school of public affairs is typically a university program, institution, or professional school of public policy, public administration, political science, international relations, security studies, management, urban planning, urban studies, intelligence studies, global studies, emergency management, public affairs, nonprofit management, criminology, and the sociology of law.

Public policy schools typically train students in two streams. The more practical stream treats the master's degree as a terminal degree, which trains students to work as policy analysts or practitioners in governments, government relations, think tanks, business-to-government marketing/sales, and consulting firms. A more theoretical stream aims to train students who are aiming to go on to complete doctoral studies with the goal of becoming professors of public policy, political science in general, or researchers.