Beyond the evolution of international security studies?

This article provides a reply to the other contributions to this special section of Security Dialogue on The Evolution of International Security Studies. Our response cuts across the special section as a whole, focusing on the following questions: What does it mean to take a critical stance towards the history of international security studies? Does micro-sociology provide the way forward? How do the main analytical distinctions laid out in The Evolution of International Security Studies work? And, what are the challenges and suggestions for a more thorough study of traditionalism?