Related Papers
Global Society
'Human Security and the Construction of Security', Global Society, 2002
2002 •
Matt McDonald
International Studies Review
(2003) Individual and Societal Dimensions of Security
2003 •
Pınar Bilgin
International Studies Perspectives
'Human Security and Constructivism', International Studies Perspectives, vol.2, no.3, 2001.
2001 •
Edward Newman
Jadavpur Journal of International Relations
State Security, Societal Security, and Human Security
2017 •
Hawre Hasan Hama
Generally speaking, the traditional approach of security mainly regards states as a sole referent object of security and refutes any attempt to broaden the concept of security. This understanding is known as a realist approach. This approach, however, has been recently challenged by the Copenhagen School, the Welsh School, and the human security approach. The Copenhagen School assumes that there is now a duality of security: state security and societal security. However, both the Welsh School and the human security school look at individuals as a sole referent object of security. This article critically reviews the traditional approaches of security, the Copenhagen School, the Welsh School, and the human security approach. This article finally argues that the Copenhagen School could successfully broaden the concept of security, and therefore, it is more convincing when compared to other schools.
What security makes possible: Some thoughts on critical security studies
Anthony Burke
It has become commonplace to accept that security is a ‘contested concept’. How contested, however, seems to be what is at stake for critical approaches to security. With the US Congress poised to ask for a National Intelligence Estimate on the security impacts of human-induced climate change; with terrorism, people movements and disease the focus of national security policy; and with various conceptualisations of human security informing national policy and new global norms, we are well into the ‘broadening and deepening’ phase once seen as revolutionary. At the same time, state-centric discourses of security remain very powerful, and global patterns of insecurity, violence and conflict are getting more destructive and uncontrollable. In this light, this paper surveys some of the key insights and approaches in the broad area of critical security studies, especially the securitisation theme of the Copenhagen School and the emancipatory agenda of the Welsh School. It assesses their value and their limitations, and puts forward an argument for the value of a deeper line of critique that puts security’s ontological claims into question. Without breaking with the ideal of emancipation, this is also to question security’s status as a end, and to reveal it as a form of power which may conceal other agendas and produce insecurity. This line of critique is of use not only for rethinking state responses to military threats, secessionism, terrorism and people movements; it has value for retaining critical perspective in a time of such apparent innovation.
Lautensach, A.K. 2006. Expanding Human Security. Australasian Journal of Human Security 2 (3): 5-14.
Alexander Lautensach
Efforts to achieve peace and security in the world's crisis areas have generally met with limited success at best. I propose that part of this failure derives not so much from technical or logistic problems but from conceptual inadequacies in our understanding of human security and its determinants. They lead to, for example, an excessive focus on 'freedom from needs' and 'freedom from wants'. I review the ontogeny of human security as a concept, beginning with the traditional interpretation of security as state security. Two conceptual problems with current models of human security are identified. Addressing them leads to a more constructive, expanded approach for analysing and ensuring human security, one that combines the advantages of being more scientific and more comprehensive. This expanded concept, which we call the 'Four Pillar Model', promises to help improve future chances of successful mitigation of insecurity and violent conflict. THE DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN SECURITY AS A CONCEPT The concept of human security underwent a series of changes over the past two decades as a result of deliberations among theorists and practitioners that culminated in a critical assessment of traditional conceptions of security. Until the end of the cold war era security tended to be regarded as largely synonymous with international security and most people regarded security as an area of study for political scientists, military analysts and government advisors that concern themselves with the security of states. Consequently, this intellectual territory was dominated by strategic thinkers and specialists of international relations. Up to this day the assumption that all important security considerations can be dealt with under the roof of state security dominates the discourse of conservative realist writers. The end of the cold war brought the destabilisation of the old strategic power blocks as well as a change in the nature of violent conflicts, away from traditional interstate war towards intrastate conflicts fuelled by tensions between ethnic, religious or ideological camps. The discourse about security received a fresh infusion of thought from political liberals, theorists as well as activists, who argued that states are not the only entities whose security ought to concern us. Regions, communities, families and individuals can only feel secure if they have reason to believe that their continued functioning is not going to be threatened at every turn. Furthermore, the security of the state largely depends on the security of those other entities. Occasionally states evidently fail to fulfil their obligations as security guarantors, even to the point of threatening the security of their citizens. Another fruitful influence came from the area of peace research based on Johan Galtung's (1969) work that established conditions for the absence of structural and personal violence faced by the individual. These insights all informed a shift in perspective from the state as the subject and object of security policy to the human individual as the centre
International Studies Perspectives
Human Security and Constructivism
2001 •
Edward Newman
Submit Content Scholarship Essay Award Home Articles Features » Blogs » Students » Publications About » How Should National Security and Human Security Relate to Each Other
Gift Monyeki
In K. O’Brien, A. L. St. Clair, B. Kristoffersen (eds.), Climate Change, Ethics and Human Security, Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, pp.23-46.
The Idea of Human Security
2010 •
Des Gasper
Development, Security and the Contested Usefulness of Human Security Corinne Heaven, Sascha Werthes, Sven Vollnhals
2009 •
Sascha Werthes
