Why Human Security Matters

Facing Global Environmental Change

Human security has for a long time been caught between a rock and a hard place. In the academic world, the attempts that human security proponents have made to reorient security have been heavily criticised by both traditional and critical security theorists. This chapter suggests that engaging with these questions, with the politics of security, is important for those interested in the possibility of human security genuinely informing or framing Australian security policy and practice. It examines the extent to which a progressive notion of human security sensitive to the dangers of securitisation might come to enjoy social and political support in the Australian context. Any discussion of a ‘project’ would seem to belie extensive disagreement about the scope and definition of human security, and whether it should be employed as a broad mobilising strategy or in the direct service of reforming state practice.

There is growing recognition that the post-Cold War era demands new conceptions of global and human security. In this highly readable account of international security issues, Peter Stoett begins by disussing four principal security threats: state violence, environmental degradation, population displacement, and globalization. Employing a minimalist-maximalist framework - the minimalist interpretation applies to conventional and restricted legal definitions of a term, while the maximalist interpretation refers to broader conceptions of problems, often global in effect - Stoett argues that the acceptance of either perspective has profound conceptual and immediate praxiological implications. While the latter may tend to see security in terms of the state and governance within an international system, it is the former, more specific, interpretation that is suitable for policy analysis. Only varied understandings of the basic terms of global security, Stoett reasons, allow for widespread critical debate among both generalists and specialists. The concluding chapter on globalization, with its attendant implications for the environment and population displacement, situates human and global security within the larger context of the historical process of expansionism. Human and Global Security provides a sophisticated, yet eminently readable account of contemporary security issues set against a backdrop of international relations theory. Its approach will appeal to a general audience as well as students and scholars.

This book examines how national security strategies relate to an emerging common European or global vision of security, and to human security ideas. Human security and national security are often regarded as competing and mutually antagonistic; the former was proposed and has been operationalised in ways which represent a paradigm shift away from state-centric approaches and the dominance of national-security perspectives. This has led to human security being associated with a broadening of the security agenda to encompass not only physical security, the use of force and military capabilities, but also the provision of material well-being and dignity to vulnerable communities. This edited volume seeks to identify key concepts and themes in the national discourse of several European countries, addressing security at a meta-narrative and conceptual level, illustrating the changes taking place in approaches to security, and in particular, mapping moves away from a paradigm of ‘national security’ to one which might be called ‘human security’. It also enables an assessment of whether national security is currently converging at either European or global levels. This book will be of much interest to students of human security, European politics, discourse analysis, war and conflict studies, and IR/security studies in general.

The Politics of Global Legalism and Human Security

One of the actual threats to the nation’s and human security is the alarming rate of illicit drug trafficking (IDT). The menace of illicit drug trafficking poses heinous threats to human lives, national development and security. Most of the Nigerian borders are porous, therefore, giving room for easy influx, movement and exit of drugs. However, the failing economy, insecurity, high rate of graduate unemployment, poverty, failure of government to provide basic necessities of life, high level of corruption and get-rich-quickly syndrome among the youths in Nigeria, constitute the various banes behind the practice of illicit drug trafficking in the state. This study interrogates the obstacles and threats posed by drug trafficking to human lives, state’s development and national security; it assesses the concerted efforts of the Nigerian government aimed at combating the menace with a plan to proffer solutions on how to checkmate the disheartening phenomenon. The study concludes that, lack of adequate intelligence gathering, insecurity, bribery and corruption, poverty, civilization and porous borders stand as a cog in the wheel to appreciable efforts at arresting the menace in the country. It also submits that there is need for sound orientation/education, strong law and good governance, adequate intelligence gathering to solve the problem in addition to the imperative role of law enforcement agencies for sustenance of a drug-free society and state.

Despite the handwringing and promises of never again, the grim recurrences of genocide and crimes against humanity around the world have made it emphatically clear that the international community has been largely ineffective in stopping mass atrocity crimes. Drawing on candid interviews with eighty key figures involved in American and Canadian responses to the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and the Kosovo crisis of 1999, Mobilizing the Will to Intervene explains why and provides a roadmap for change. Since appeals to the moral law carry little weight in the political calculations of modern states, the authors argue that civil society must persuade governments that the prevention of mass atrocities around the world is in every country's national interest. In a globalized world, violence, disease, and instability triggered by mass atrocities in one place affect the security, health, and prosperity of all other regions. No nation is an island. Impassioned, insightful, and determined, Mobilizing the Will to Intervene is a direct appeal to politicians, NGOs, journalists, and the public to participate effectively in the prevention of mass atrocities by pressuring their leaders to act. With simple, practical recommendations, this book shows how civil society can participate in preventing future mass atrocities and help repair a ruined system of international aid.

Human security is a concept that challenges the traditional notion of national security by placing the ‘human’ as the central referent of security instead of the 'state.’ It is a concept that encompasses health and well-being of people and prioritizes their fundamental freedoms and basic livelihoods by shielding them from acute socioeconomic threats, vulnerabilities and stress. The epicenter of “health security” is located at the intersection of several academic fields or disciplines which do not necessarily share a common theoretical approach. Diverse players in the “health security” domain include practitioners in such fields as security studies, foreign policy, international relations, development theory, environmental politics and the practices of the United Nations system and other multilateral bodies like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Improvements in health are not only dependent on continued commitments to enhance the availability of healthcare and to strengthen disease prevention systems; they are very much enhanced by that intersection between global security and global health. What is emerging is global health diplomacy paradigm that calls for strengthening of core capacities in the public health and foreign policy arenas aimed at advancing human security through the strengthening of global health diplomacy practices. Human security in its broadest sense embraces far more than the absence of violence and conflict. It encompasses human rights, good governance, access to education and health care, and ensuring that each individual has opportunities and devices to fulfill his or her potential. Every step in this direction is a step towards reducing poverty, achieving growth and preventing conflict. Freedom from want, freedom from fear and the freedom of future generations to inherit a natural environment – these are the interrelated building blocks of human- and therefore national security.

In his closing remarks to the 2012 informal interactive dialogue of the United Nations General Assembly on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), UN Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson called for the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities to be made a “living reality.” Three years earlier, in his first report on implementing R2P, the Secretary-General had described “the ultimate purpose of the responsibility to protect” as being “to save lives by preventing the most egregious mass violations of human rights.” Indeed, since the adoption of R2P at the 2005 World Summit, there have been many generic calls for a focus on the prevention of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity (hereafter genocide and mass atrocities). This is unsurprising, given that the world’s commitment to R2P included a specific call for the prevention of these crimes. Since 2009, UN Member States of all types and from every region have voiced their support in the General Assembly for the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities, recognizing that it not only saves lives but also reduces the need for enforcement further down the line. This sentiment echoes views expressed in the academy, which largely agrees that prevention is far better than cure. But although there is broad agreement about the normative and practical imperative of preventing genocide and mass atrocities, much less is understood about how this might be achieved in practice. Although work examining the incorporation of genocide and mass atrocity prevention into US foreign and defense policy has progressed apace, relatively little attention has been paid to the question of how to implement the preventive aspects of R2P more generally and less still to the specific role played by pivotal international organizations such as the UN. To date, academic work on the UN's role has tended to focus, understandably, on early warning and assessment, although an emerging body of work examines the role of the system's human rights mechanisms in helping to prevent genocide and mass atrocities. Thus far, the UN itself has focused on developing its mandate and capacity for early warning and assessment, as well as on the establishment of a convening authority designed to facilitate timely advice in crisis situations. The UN has also begun preliminary work, under the auspices of the Framework Team's Experts Reference Group on Prevention, on system-wide approaches to genocide and mass atrocity prevention.

This study aims to explain how climate change can affect various aspects of global security issues such as increasing global temperatures, extreme weather, and decreasing availability of clean water, which can trigger global security issues such as conflict and mass migration. In addition, this study also aims to identify climate change from the perspective of human security. This research uses a qualitative approach with descriptive methods. The research results show that climate change can become a global threat where shortages of water, food, and natural disasters will force the population of a nation to make every effort to fulfill their needs, including migrating. This of course can lead to conflicts such as the conflicts that occurred in Africa and South Asia. From a human security perspective, the issue of climate change also makes people feel insecure, especially in the seven areas of security, namely economic security, food security, health security, environmental security, individual security, community security, and political security. This of course will also have an impact on global security. Lastly, decisive action is needed to deal with climate change, considering the magnitude of the risks at stake, including forcing countries to obey and comply through the UN security council.

The article analyzes the problems of ensuring human security through the prism of international legal protection. Approaches to understanding the concept of «human security» in domestic research and in international law are revealed. Emphasis is placed on the special role of the UN in the field of ensuring and protecting human rights. It is noted that the ideas of human security began to develop thanks to the activities of the United Nations, a special group of researchers. In 1994, the report of the UN Development Program was devoted exclusively to human security. The report proposed to develop the idea of expanding the interpretation of the concept of personal security, distinguishing in it two interrelated factors: protection from unexpected and harmful disruptions of everyday life (known as «freedom from fear») and protection from constant threats of hunger, disease, crime and oppression (known as «freedom from want»). Seven separate components of personal security were further distinguished: economic, food, health security, environmental security, personal security (freedom from physical violence and threats), minority security, political security (protection of basic human rights and freedoms). In addition, the article raised the issue of ensuring human security in the conditions of armed conflicts, in particular, the war in Ukraine. Advantages and disadvantages of UN activities in this area are considered. Problems are singled out, without the solution of which it is impossible to fully ensure human rights, especially in the field of their unlawful restriction. Therefore, options for solving these problems are proposed. It was emphasized that in the current conditions, cooperation, support and mediation of international organizations in the settlement of the military conflict is important for Ukraine. The priority in the order of resolution of armed conflicts in Ukraine should belong to the United Nations - the main intergovernmental international organization that supports peace and security throughout the world. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which took place on February 24, 2022, shook the security situation in Europe and around the world. This war has already been called the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II.

The essence of human social security as a priority component of national, in particular economic security, is revealed. It has been determined that in the context of the aggravation of the current socio-economic crisis, and the threats associated with COVID-19, the solution of social problems becomes even more important and relevant. A hybrid war poses a particular threat in Ukraine, which significantly affected the state of Ukraine's national security, in particular, human social security. Its negative consequences are both direct and indirect, which is a real social threat. The impact of a hybrid war on human social security requires the justification of new, more effective mechanisms and tools for its strengthening. It is noted that the analysis and assessment of the state of social security should be systematic, comprehensive, evaluating the following components: the state of well-being and living standards; stability of social relations and organizational structure; level of culture of the society; availability of conditions for the prevention and resolution of social conflicts; processes of desocialization of society, etc. It is emphasized that social security must be considered in the context of a multi-level system, in particular, it must be considered from the point of view of the economic level, namely: nano-, micro-, meso-, macro- and mega-levels. The author's multi-level system of social security is proposed, which includes five levels: human social security (nano-level); social security of a business entity (micro level); social security of the region (meso level); social security of the state (macrolevel); global social security (mega level). The author's definitions of the content (essence) of each level of social security and their functional components are given.

In this study we have analyzed the paradigm of Human Security and how it differs from the more known idea of global security in the context of war, terrorism and organizedcrime in the Western Balkans. To emphasize this, we have presented the main terrorist threats and attacks that have occurred in countries like: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia and the Kosovo province, also presenting the complexity of factors that have contributed to the present geopolitical climate. Also, we have compared the number of organized crime groups in these countries and how they contribute to the state of corruption that leads to violence, poverty and inequality. In the end of this paper, we have proposed a series of potential solutions to merge both human and global security in order to create a safer Balkan community in the context of the European Union.Keywords: Human Security, terrorism, organized crime, Western Balkans, European Union.

This article asks whether institutions and processes for regional environmental governance can be introduced or, where they already exist, be strengthened to be more effective along three key dimensions: managing environmental stressors, coordinating the adaptation and mitigation strategies required at various scales of social organization, and establishing better early warning, response and recovery systems. These dimensions are analysed through an examination of the challenges facing the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region that affect all of the region of South Asia. In terms of both human and national security, regional environmental governance holds great promise, but effective governance institutions and processes (either hegemonic or democratic) would be extremely difficult to create.

‘Structural prevention … comprises strategies to address the root causes of deadly conflict,’ observed the Carnegie Commission in the seminal report, Preventing Deadly Conflict (Hamburg and Vance, 1997: 69). This statement succinctly defines the dominant paradigm within research into the causes and prevention of genocide and mass atrocities. Extreme violence has been perceived as resulting from the cumulative effect of multiple risk factors or root causes. Prevention, therefore, requires the timely identification and deconstruction of these causal factors. This paradigm has been very successful in identifying a number of the long-term causes of genocide and mass atrocities, such as the presence of an ‘outgroup’ and the existence of internal strife within societies. Similarly, it has led to the identification of a range of preventive actions that may mitigate these risk factors, such as legislation to protect vulnerable minorities. Furthermore, models analysing the presence of risk factors in particular nations have enabled the development of mass atrocity risk lists for early warning purposes. Perhaps because of these successes, the assumptions that underlie the ‘root cause’ approach to the causes and prevention of genocide and mass atrocities have rarely been questioned. Yet analysis suggests that they are both flawed and unnecessarily restrictive.