This book brings context and perspective to the security problems of today. Global security and stability is now challenged not only by states and nuclear war, but by insurgency, disease, environmental degradation and military privatisation. Yet the way we perceive politics can be dangerously stark and ahistorical. The authors show that, far from being a clean break, the "new" problems faced today might actually have "old" solutions. What can Locke tell us about terrorists? What does Bentham have to say about sanctions? What are the ethics of outsourcing war to private companies? By looking back to decades and even centuries of ethical analysis and political theory, this book provides fascinating insight into all these questions.