Lithuanian Annual Strategic Review

Security Studies are undergoing a true upheaval in Europe and have become an unlikely cradle of new theories, new ideas, and new methods for the entire International Relations discipline. Three European schools of security studies - Copenhagen, Paris, and Wales - have produced a serious challenge to the orthodox canons of the US security/strategic studies on the understanding and explanation of security problems, as well as the very nature of the "security" phenomenon itself. Despite the active international academic battles, security analysis is in a firm grasp of geopolitics in Lithuania. An occasional critical article has not been able to launch a serious alternative to the strong school of Lithuanian geopolitics. Such an alternative, however, is necessary and could potentially bring a fresh impulse to the Lithuanian security policy itself. This article discusses the contemporary state and the most significant trends in Security Studies. Particular attention is given to the analysis of differences between the traditional, American security studies, and the critical, European schools. The main aim of this article is to present the possibilities inherent in critical security studies, which could present a strong alternative to the rationalist approach.