Geostrategy Role Play: Human Security and the Fight on Terrorism Essay

The concept of human security addresses the fight on terrorism in a new approach than the traditional method which based on states and countries, this approach targets individuals and meeting the changes in social relations to violence. The community is the base unit and not the state and merges human rights to human development. The military in this approach is used in a different way than the traditional method which used force without considering the reputations on individual lives like in Iraq. Human security combines the use of military and the economic element. The primary source of insecurity currently in most countries is that of organized groups or from countries which finance such groups. Border control cannot control the instability because immigration is not the source of insecurity; the organized groups have infiltrated states and can trigger the crime at any time. The current existing conflict is that of politics, human rights violation and organized crime. Current wars are about destroying states other than building them by declining taxation and privatization of crimes. The organizers of the war are none state actors, warlords, criminal gangs and mercenaries. The new war gives the military a new convention, whereby interrogation needs to be used to determine because it is not possible to distinguish between a combatant and non-combatant. The difference between the new war and the traditional war is that the conventional European war targeted the fight in the battlefield to gain a win while the new war aims the use of terror on civilians to inflict fear. Violation of human rights is the center of all conflicts in the new war. It is evident by the high civilian casualties and population displacement. The source of funds in the new war is not legal through taxation but through the use of illegal drug selling through use of cartels, use of illegal immigration and through taxing of humanitarian assistance (Munkler, 2005).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The new war has led to the change of approach by the military because intelligence and interrogation are used by the military to distinguish between a combatant and non-combatant. It has also led to the use of air attacks such as that used in Palestine to destroy the target group resulting in shock and awe. The new war result in the interference of the social lives of the individuals of the affected community since after the attacks by the military displacement occurs. The crimes continue because the activities are funded by the continuous crime in the country destroying development activities in the parent country.

Human security is made up of a combination of various security issues such as; maters to deal with food, political, health and community security. The Canadian policy on human security insists on the protection of the individual and not the state and safety is emphasized on the face of political violence. The United Nations development program approached human security as a combination of varied security types whose main intention is to promote development in the society. Global communication has implemented human security to be more comfortable because a crime done in one state is felt on another; this is due to the issues of morality. The implementation of human security is also championed by the legal binding agreement of the European countries after the end of world war two. The countries signed with the United Nations that they are going to maintain the rights of all humans at all cost and human security is one of them. Due to globalization territorial security on the borders cannot be used as the primary security for the state, there is the need for a policy which stresses on the safety of the state at the individual level which is evident in human security. Human security also helps in dealing with authoritarian states that are known to have weapons of mass destruction.

A variety of principles guides human security; the primacy of human rights is the first principle. This principle aid in the distinction of human security from the traditional approach to security because it addresses issues of human rights. Human rights incorporate social, economic, political and civil rights. According to this principle, human rights should be given priority during conflicts; this means that the killings are to be allowed if they are necessary and acceptable legally. It also prohibits the use of interrogation techniques which may result in torture or murder of suspects upon arrest (Ucko, 2009). The main aim of humanitarian operations is to protect the lives of civilians at all cost during the process by military forces.

The second principle is that of legitimate political authority; this means that the physical security is to be upheld. The provision of employment by the state and the development of infrastructure also require the development of policies which ensure the states are obliged to provide. The failure of the state to provide for its citizen has been the primary source of conflict, this principle, therefore, insists on the responsibility of the state to its citizens by legitimizing political authority (Muggah, 2008). Political legitimacy insists on the use of democracy when handling crimes instead of using military forces. The use of military troops enables a country to win a war, but the victory is short-lived because the affected group will reorganize and retaliate back as revenge for losing most of their members. This results in casualties and a lack of political legitimacy

Human security since it is a global issue calls for the implementation through multilateral action. Multilateralism calls for working with the international institutions, working in line with the requirement of the United Nations while keeping a binding agreement with other regional groups such as the African Union, NATO in Europe and southern African development community. It also calls for the procedural handling of issues by following the rules set when handling situation especially state conflicts. Multilateralism allows for coordination when handling disputes in that it coordinates intelligence, trade policy, and security policy initiatives of member states.

Human security approach employs the use of bottom-up strategy when solving issues; this is whereby the affected parties as casualties of war are used as the primary sources of information on how a situation should be handled. Women in warring countries are the best respondents because they give the response from their participatory point of view. By providing such information, states can devise ways to deal with crimes without destroying the lives of the weak party and in the long run promote development (Kaldor, 2006).

Human security aims to stabilize conflict and deal with the sources of insecurity. The traditional approach on dealing with organized crimes in countries like Somalia and Iraq has led to the slow economic growth in those countries, and the youth are unemployed. The high rate of unemployment leads the youth to enroll in gangs and organized groups which they are promised incentives and in the long run contribute to the continued wars. The human security policy does not only intend in bringing peace but coordinating with the locals so that they can receive first-hand intelligence on how organized crimes are planned.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the human security approach is the best approach in dealing with the new wars; this is because it combines all the other elements that security seeks to achieve by bringing in the concept of human development.

References

Kaldor, M. (2006). Human Security: A Relevant Concept?. Politique etrangere, (4), 901-914.

Muggah, R. (Ed.). (2008). Security and post-conflict reconstruction: dealing with fighters in the aftermath of war. Routledge.

Munkler, H. (2005). The new wars. Polity.

Nye Jr, J. S. (2003). US power and strategy after Iraq. Foreign Aff., 82, 60.

Ucko, D. H. (2009). The new counterinsurgency era: transforming the US military for modern wars. Georgetown University Press.