Human Security
vs. National
Security
Dr Katerina Standish
National Centre for Peace
and Conflict Studies
Definitions
 National
Security: a term that refers to the
defense and foreign interests of a country
 Human
Security: a term that can refers to
the defense and personal interests of
people
What we hope to achieve this morning?
 Understand
where
the paradigm of HS
comes from
 Realize
 Appreciate
 Recognize
that HS
envisions humanity
as multidimensional
and interconnected
that HS is
theoretically
‘unstable’
that the
HS paradigm is not
ideologically
neutral
Human Development Index HDI
Global North and Global South
Focus of Interest
National Security vs. Human Security
National Security
State
Absolute
To Prevail
Governments
Fight Terror
Hegemonic
Ultimatum
Negotiation
Hard
Reactive
Variable
Human Security
Foci
Civilians
Sovereignty
Not absolute
Responsibility
To Protect
Locus of Interest
Victims
Motivation
Social Justice
Political Focus
Humanitarian
Dispute Technique
Power
Action
Soft
Proactive
Defining Human Security
“the protection of individuals
from risks to their physical or
psychological safety, dignity and
wellbeing.”
Tadjbakhsh & Chenoy (2007)
Understanding the Human
Security Paradigm (Nef, 1985)
The global system is made up of a
juxtaposition of five subsystems:





Ecology (or environment)
Economy
Society
Polity
Culture
Interconnectivity of Insecurities
And…these subsystems are linked:




environment and economy are linked by resources;
economy and society, to social forces;
society and polity, by brokers and alliances; and,
politics and culture, by ideology.
The concrete interplay among and between regimes
and their linkages defines the nature of systemic
entropy—or homeostasis—at any given point in time
and at any level, whether global, regional, national or,
local”
(Human Security and Mutual Vulnerability,:IRC, 1999)
The Human Security NUTSHELL
Human security as a concept takes its
standpoint from the position of people
instead of states and sees ‘security’ as
contingent upon successful (nonviolent)
management of threats to social, cultural,
economic, environmental and political
processes.
The Human Security paradigm shift






Political Realism
Critical theory
Radical theory
Postmodernism
Feminism
Human Security
Lecture Flip!

The term insecurity embraces almost all forms of harm to an
individual [so] it loses any real descriptive power.

Human Security proponents make dangerous attempts to
prove false causal assumptions linking socio-economic
issues to political outcomes.

Human Security as a concept aspires to explain almost
everything and consequently, in reality explains nothing.

Human Security should be neutral. A social science
concept should not propose ethical choices.
Extra Questions

How does NS consider forms of violence such as ethnic cleansing
and global warming?

Does HS’s emphasis on the individual make it difficult to incorporate
it into Global National discourses?

Does the failure of the UN system to address forms of collective
violence mean that it, like the state system, is underperforming?

What changes do you see as necessary to infuse national and
global ‘security’ platforms with human security concerns?

What role can HS play in the so-called global north? ¼ children in
NZ are starving and poverty, structural and cultural violence are rife
in many parts of the developing world. Is HS a way for developed
nations to point fingers at the developing world and then hold
them up to a higher standard?