National and Human Security Essay Example

The strive of almost every country in the modern world is to ensure the security of their citizens. National security is the concept that defines the safety of a nation and its citizens against physical, economic, cyber, and environmental threats. As a result, the idea of human security perceives threats as external challenges to a country's sovereignty. On the other hand, there is the concept of human security that challenges the notions of national security by emphasizing the focus should be on an individual rather than the state. The idea of human security focuses on the protection of people from traditional military threats and non-military threats such as poverty.

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The United Nation Development Program provided the first authoritative definition to human security in a 1994 report. The report argued that human life and dignity is the primary concern of human security beyond military and territorial matters. The UNDP provided four main characteristics of human security. The main features are that it is people-oriented, its concepts are independent, it is ensured through prevention, and it is universal. The report caused a debate between scholars as some wanted the UNDP to narrow down the concept of human security while others wanted the organization to maintain its broad view of the idea. Some scholars wanted human security to focus on violent threats to human beings. The supporters of the general view opposed such a notion. They argued that once the subject becomes an individual, it is impossible to differentiate the violent threats from other threats such as poverty, hunger, diseases, that infringe on a person's safety, freedom and self-realization. Some scholars chose to use the middle ground by adopting the narrowed and broad approach. They decided to select the things that humans can risk their lives or fight over as the determinants of human security.

Proponents of national security argue that the concept has the objective of ensuring domestic tranquility and promotion of general welfare which are critically important to the constitution of the country. The building blocks of the idea of national security originate from the argument of the state over the individual. According to national security, the welfare of a nation is more important than the welfare of the people. The protection of the constitution which is one of the elements of national security is the main reason for national security. However, those who oppose national security view the law as a reason for the state to place its affairs ahead of that of its people. Supporters of human security regard the nation as a secondary need. However, it is important to note that supporters from both paradigms acknowledge the importance of the state in ensuring safety.

Lama argues that the real question for the supporters of both sides of the paradigm is, "what makes people feel more secure?"(n.p). The buildings blocks of human security seek to meet the most basic of human aspirations such as food, clothing, and shelter among others such as education, security, freedom and the ability to live a life without fear. By satisfying these needs, humans can achieve security. According to supporters of human security, these needs are what determine the security of an individual. However, using the paradigm of human security, the state-society relationship becomes separate from international relations.

South Asia, for example, has a lot of elements that one can use to compare and contrasts the concepts of national and human security. Most of these problems exist at the national and local levels. Some of the challenges encountered by the population in South Asia include terrorism and insurgency originating from political demands. There is also the forced and voluntary migration created by socio-political conflicts. Citizens get displaced because of natural disasters and some development projects. There are also challenges that have already been discussed such as poverty and starvation. All these are security concerns. At the heart of each, there is an unequal distribution of resources, livelihood, and some nutritional concerns, harmful development projects, low access to public utilities and some human rights violations. The thinkers in this region have shot down any attempt to redefine human security and associate it with human aspects. The post-colonial setup for most countries in the region follows the definition of national security. They focus on external parameters such as military strategy, and territorial-based diplomatic ties. The focus has ignored internal dynamics and consider the more substantial military security threats and interests.

Scholars have argued that it is impossible to achieve national security in the absence of human security. Some situations of inadequate human security have brought about protests and violence. The safety of a country and a government is dependent upon the satisfaction of its population. There are instances where discontent among the population has grown to the level of posing a national threat. An example of such an outcome is the Kargil war that was fought against the Pakistani forces in 1999. The Arab spring is also another example of what can happen if the general population does not have internal security. The concept of internal security therefore somehow affects national security.

However, Trobianni argues that national and human security should relate to each other. Critics of human security described it as lacking policies relevance(n.p). However, human security has significant parallels with national security. One of the primary questions in the issue of security is, who should provide security? By failing to address the problem, the governments have relegated the idea of human security to get justification to provide humanitarian aid. The state is supposed to ensure human security although most of the supporters of human security view the government as part of the problem. The national security and human security relate to each other in that they both depend on the stability of the state. Achieving human security without a stable and legitimate state is impossible. Trobianni argues that the idea of national security already encompasses human security and should not be solely restricted to the defense of the border against external threats. One example to reflect the relationship between national security and human security is the condition in countries with a weak illegitimate state. Most of the countries that lack human security and have high rates of poverty, hunger and human rights abuse tend to governed by one of the following states. They are either administered by an illegitimate state, a weak state, an unstable state or states that have all of the features mentioned earlier. National security and human security tend to disagree on the avenues of priorities, but the two sets of arguments have some points of intersection. The stability of the state and its institutions are the main guarantee for the safety of citizens and their human security (Trobianni n.p).

Works Cited

Lama, Mahendra P. "Human vs. National Security." 11.22 (2018). Internet. 24 October 2018. <http://www.21global.ucsb.edu/global-e/april-2018/human-vs-national-security>.

Trobianni, Riccardo. How Should National Security and Human Security Relate to Each Other? Dissertation. The University of Bristol. Bristol: E-International Relations Students, 2013. Internet. <https://www.e-ir.info/2013/04/26/how-should-national-security-and-human-security-relate-to-each-other/>.