In their seminal work Political Community and the North Atlantic Area: International Organization in the Light of Historical Experience, Deutsch and his collaborators defined a security community as "a group of people" believing "that they have come to agreement on at least this one point: that common social problems must and can be resolved by processes of 'peaceful change'".
Dalam bukunya, Political Community and the North Atlantic Area: International Organization in the Light of Historical Experience, Deutsch dan rekan-rekannya mendefinisikan masyarakat keamanan sebagai "sekumpulan manusia" yang meyakini "bahwa mereka telah menyepakati satu hal: permasalahan sosial bersama harus dan dapat diselesaikan dengan cara 'perubahan damai'".