Security, widely regarded as the centrepiece of geopolitical discourse, has been traditionally understood in terms of national military defence. More recently, theorists and practitioners alike have argued for a more encompassing, less state-centric definition of the concept, which takes into account non-military threats to security as well as non-military responses to both military and non-military threats. The end of the Cold War provides an opportune time to reconsider these arguments, to establish whether or not the related concepts of common and comprehensive security have contemporatry relevance, and to identify their far-reaching policy and institutional implications.