IMAGINED (SECURITY) COMMUNITIES - COGNITIVE REGIONS IN INTERNATIONAL-RELATIONS

This article examines security communities as cognitive regions. It in troduces the notions of 'cognitive region' and 'community-region', dis cussing and redefining Karl Deutsch's concept of security community as a special instance of a 'cognitive region'. The article suggests a co nstructivist explanation for the relationship between pluralistic secu rity communities and liberal ideas, discussing the relationship betwee n knowledge, power, and community, to elucidate how material and socio -cognitive factors construct of security communities. It examines the role shared identities play in how pluralistic security communities ev olve, arguing that sovereign states, in the process of becoming repres entatives of a larger community may ultimately redefine their interest s and the meaning of sovereignty. Subsequently, the article argues tha t the social construction of pluralistic security communities may depe nd on pre-existing security community-building institutions. Using the OSCE as an example, the article concludes that the institution exhibi ts attributes conducive to building a pluralistic security community. It ends with some thoughts about the relevance of security communities for IR theory.