The first NTS-PD Security Governance Seminar (SGS) was held at room 206 of College of Public Administration on 21 Feb at 6:30PM. The topic was Approaches to Security Studies and the book Machine (by L'homme) was the one for group communication. Doctoral student Danzi Liao was the presenter, Taona was the commentor, and Yongkun Liu was the moderator.

Focusing on Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of Contemporary Security Studies (CSS), Danzi Liao briefly introduced the main contents, structure, features, values, ways of reading, and online learning materials of CSS. Then she gave a detailed illumination on Realism, Liberalism, and Maxism, which were considered as the ‘traditional’ approaches to IR, Political Sciences, and Security Studies. It was most important and also meaningful, by Danzi, to try to understand the following three questions when conducting security studies: (1) what does ‘security’ mean? (2) what does Security Studies include? and (3) what are those key points of Realism, Liberalism, and Maxism? What needs special pointing out is that while the basic elements of the three ‘traditional’ approaches are straightford, sorting the detailed variations is complicated and confusing, and it is neither proper nor necessary to exclusively classify one approach into one basket. Additionally, when this book titled Realism, Liberalism, and Maxsim as ‘traditional’, it doesnot mean that they are outdated or meaningless, but rather that they remain the most dominated and powerful analytical perspectives in examining the security practices when compared with the latest new developed perspectives.

Finally, all participants communicated with each other about the book Machine, including its historical background, main points, and how it can enlighten the contemporary people in their lives and networking communities.