Security studies is an academic subset of the broader discipline of international relations. I think it should certainly be complemented by issues such as epidemics, environmental change, cybersecurity, and human rights. Pandemics, for example, cannot help but have an impact on international relations. According to such a theory of international relations as neoliberalism, the worldwide spread of the free market is an absolute good for humanity. However, with supply chains disrupted by pandemics, it will be hard to achieve the kind of active movement of goods and services that people saw in the pre-pandemic era.
In addition, the extent to which environmental change can be managed successfully depends on the active and rational actions of numerous governments. As follows from postliberal theory, states are forced to cooperate in order to ensure their security and sovereign interests (Debre & Dijkstra, 2021). Without such cooperation, it will be impossible to exist safely on earth under a changing climate. The same can be said of human rights since preventing the systematic abuse of a country’s citizens by its authorities will require the participation of the entire world community. The problem of human rights cannot be perceived as a relic of the past because there are still countries with totalitarian regimes.
Finally, cyberattacks on servers and software have long been a weapon used by countries to wage war. In the future, people should expect the importance of Internet technology in inter-state relations to increase even further. Safety studies must take into account the increased influence of several factors, such as climate change, cyber-attacks, pandemics, and human rights. Such rapid changes in the world require consideration of the factors that lead to these changes. To deny this is to deny the diversity of political, social and economic relations among states.
References
Debre, M. J., & Dijkstra, H. (2021). Institutional design for a post-liberal order: Why some international organizations live longer than others. European Journal of International Relations, 27(1), 311–339.