This paper explores the question of the politics of knowledge production and possibilities for developing postcolonial forms of scholarship about the international relations of the Middle East. Responding to Barkawi and Laffey’s “The postcolonial moment in security studies,” I suggest that perhaps the next turn in security studies and international relations scholarship should be led by scholars situated in the postcolonial states, especially those exposed to the violence of colonial modernity and the experiences of insecurity that entails. To illustrate these possibilities I highlight the ongoing work of what I suggest could be referred to the as the ‘Beirut School’ of security studies. This work has been produced by scholars of diverse national and disciplinary backgrounds working in Beirut and/or writing about the position of Lebanon in regional and global geopolitics. The critical nature of this work is shaped in part by its familiarity with a context that has suffered from political violence and war often due to Lebanon’s vulnerable position in regional politics. Challenging the view that Lebanon is simply a weak state, lacking sovereignty and thus a battleground for non-state terrorist movements and external actors, this scholarship transcends the statist limitations of security studies and international relations theory by exploring highlighting societal understandings of insecurity, the role of non-state actors as agents of security (as well as insecurity), constructions of hybrid-sovereignty. In addressing these issues, I argue that such knowledge production efforts are essential for global studies as they engage rival perspectives and interests (often sources of mutual insecurity) that rarely gain mutual recognition as legitimate actors in international politics and contribute to efforts to imagine a more pluralist global order.