Aims and Objectives
Although espionage and the activities
of secret services have long been of interest to the public and journalism,
it is only since the mid-1970s that they have been the object of systematic
academic research. The study of security and intelligence has developed
as an inter-disciplinary field drawing upon contributions from history,
political science, law, peace and defense studies and sociology. Within
the field there are two main traditions. One is the historical approach,
mainly dealing with the role of intelligence in time of war, and the other
is the political science/international relations concern with intelligence
policy. The former has been dominant in the UK whilst the latter has been
more influential in North America. The purpose of the SISG is to promote
the development of policy-orientated studies of intelligence and security
services whilst drawing on the comparative and historical tradition.
SISG is a specialist
group of the UK Politicial Studies Association.
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