Although relatively much has been said and written already on civilian based defence, one hardly can deny that there has been not much of an increase in our understanding of this particular alternative security concept. Hence, in the present article an attempt is made to trace the factors, which are to be held responsible for this rather striking case of theoretical stagnation. The main argument boils down to the assertion that, up till now, to much energy has been invested in normative analysis and polemics. Together with the reality of a very restricted research capacity, this has led to an almost complete neglect of scientific research proper. Indeed, in the existing litterature it is hard to find any serious effort at theoretical articulation. One will search in vain for explicit stated modeis, testable hypotheses as well as elaborated research strategies. Little wonder then, that hitherto scientific progress has been wanting. Accordingly, it is argued that to bring about any positive change in this respect in the future, a mere upgrading of the actual research capicity - as is so often advocated - will not suffice. Real progress is only to be expected, if more work is made of basic research.