The utility of the human security agenda for policy‐makers (original) (raw)
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Human Security in Contemporary International Politics : Limitations and Challenges
2017
Since the Post-Cold War, human security studies have become attracted in the international community and in the security studies. From the human security standpoint, individual security is more significant than the security of the state. At the core of this study is one essential question: To what extent do you agree that Human Security offers a radical and progressive agenda for thinking about and ‘doing’ security? In order to answer of the main question, the purpose of this article is to examine human security assumptions. The thesis, therefore will argue that human security does not ultimately offer a radical and progressive agenda for international security policy. Thus, this study concludes that human security statements are likely to be unsuccessful in practice.
2006
The long awaited Human Security Report (October 2005), prepared under the leadership of Andrew Mack, or UN-Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Report "In larger Freedom: toward development, security and human rights for all" (March 2005) exemplify that human security is of great interest for foreign, security and development policy. Moreover, it has a great potential to offer for the scientific community. It all began, more or less, with the 1994 Human Development Report. Over a decade ago, this UNDP Report basically encouraged international initiatives like the Human Security Network and the Commission on Human Security or the campaign leading to the 1997 Convention on Anti-Personnel Landmines that popularized 'human security'. Human security is now a term frequently used in speeches and common to find on web pages of various foreign policy departments (e.g. Canada, Japan, Norway, Switzerland) and research institutes. However, even though "'human security' has entered the lexicon of international politics, the concept nonetheless remains highly controversial" (Hampson 2002: v). This report summarizes spirited debates on human security with regard to its impact on foreign policy agendas and its practical implications for activities in the policy fields of human development, human rights, and even humanitarian interventions which mainly took place at a panel at the 3 rd European Consortium for Political Research Conference in Budapest, September 2005. Originally initiated by the Standing Working Group on Human Security (AG Hum-Sec) at the University of Marburg, the panel "Human Security and/on Foreign Policy Agendas-Theoretical and Practical Implication" was jointly organised with the Institute for Development and Peace (INEF), which runs a project on "Human Security in Theory and Practice" (http://inef.uni-duisburg.de/page/ projekt.php?lang=en). The papers presented here hopefully offer the curious reader an interesting and challenging new way of looking at what constitute the main threats to peace and security and how different actors try to respond to it when emphasising 'human security'. Moreover, the papers explore the strength and weakness of human security as a political leitmotif when becoming an organizing principle for foreign policy departments. We were fortunate and privileged to be able to gather an interesting group of international experts:
Human Security after 15 Years: Some Introductory Remarks and Critical Reflections
Asian Journal of Peacebuilding, 2019
After 25 years, the global vision for human security as a concept and a policy commitment remains unfulfilled in most parts of the world. In fact, more and more evidence points to the growing reality that the idea of securing people has once again succumbed to the traditional concepts of state security and regime security, as it did after World War II. Part of the problem can be found in some major policy instruments adopted by proponents of human security. Military intervention for human protection, economic sanctions and judicial punishment or threats thereof, which have been regarded as policy instruments to protect people or promote human security, have proved to be either insufficient or ineffective, and at worst counter-productive.
Human Security: International and National Security Perspectives
Human Security: Myth or Reality?, 2022
Over the past decade, the concept of human security has influenced and challenged global politics, institutions and governance. As we look into the contemporary structures of many existing security agendas within policy making circles, there is a general consensus that reformation is needed, in many ways. Since many changes or influxes within the security environment may shift instantly with the rise of evolving security threats, including those which have a transnational character, are prone to exist in a modernizing global world. Central to this approach is the perception of security as priorities most often vary from one state, or party to another. The holistic vision of protecting the security of populations lends itself to a variety of interpretations shaped by the relative understandings of what constitutes a threat to the security of an individual, per say. This leads us to question how the intensity and repercussions of any given threat may be measured, and by which means we may eliminate or prevent it. Understanding and effectively analyzing current security trends in relation to human security and human welfare are key issues for upcoming security threats in the future, as must be the main consideration when looking at policy making mechanisms. Often such threats have historically proven to have a tendency to affect people regardless of the region, or context reminding us that each and every individual, is to some extent at least, vulnerable to a single form of insecurity. The extent to which they are affected or the probability which they may be, in respect to insecurity is a whole study by itself.