<i>The human element</i>

DURING the Cold War, the security discourse centred on East-West rivalry, a global struggle for dominance between the USA and the Soviet Union. In 1946, George Kennan, then US ambassador in Moscow, argued that the Soviet power was inherently expansionist and would have to be contained. That was the beginning of the "Policy of Containment" that marked the US security policy throughout the Cod War. Security between the two sides was ensured by what was diabolically called "Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). It was assumed that because none of the adversaries would be 'mad' enough to seek self-destruction, they would not attack each other. While the peace activists were calling for banning the nuclear bomb, the security experts were arguing that the bombs were actually ensuring a "Warm Peace" by preventing direct confrontation between the two Super Powers. Thankfully, the Cold War ended, when Soviet Union broke up in 1991, not due to any war or invasion, but because of the communist economic structure collapsed in the face of democracy and free market. During the 1980s, thanks to the initiative by the UN, there was gradual realization that the concept of national security need not be confined to the narrow ambit of East-West rivalry, but should to be broadened to include other issues that pose serious danger to individuals, societies, states and the humanity.
With the end of the Cold War and increasing globalisation of the world economy, war between major economic powers became unlikely. For example, Europe is economically so intertwined that it is virtually impossible to fight a war between EU nations. As the security scenario changed, there was increasing demand to revise the traditional concept of national security. Yet, as the world moved away from the nuclear precipice, it did not see the end of war or interstate conflict. Indeed, since the end of the Cold War, there has been an increase in armed conflicts mostly in the ME, Asia and Africa. Often these conflicts, such as in the Balkans or in Rwanda had ethnic, religious or economic origins. Non-state actors such as terrorists, drug and arms smugglers continued to threaten peace. While military issues continued to dominate Arab Israeli or IndiaPakistan relations, for many others problems of poverty, lack of governance, sectarian violence fuelled unrest. Countries, such as Somalia, ceased to exist as a nation because of the collapse of the central government. Thus, discourse on security gradually shifted from state towards individual, from purely military to non-military threats.
In 1991 Stockholm initiative on Global Security and Governance referred to "challenges to security other than political rivalry and armaments" and to a wider concept of security, which deals also with threats from failures in development, environmental degradation, excessive population growth and movement, lack of progress towards democracy. Robert McNamara, the US Secretary of Defence through much of the Vietnam War and later the President of World Bank stated "It is increasingly being realized that it is poverty, not the lack of military hardware that is responsible for insecurity across the southern half of the planet". The first explicit document to mention Non Traditional Security / Human Security was "The UNDP Report of 1994" drafted by late Dr. Mahbub-ul-Haq. It listed seven components of human security namely: economic security, food security, health security, environmental security, personal security, community security and political security.
While the liberals, such as Barry Buzan or Richard Ullman, advocated for an expansion of the security concept, the realists such as Daniel Deudney opposed the idea. He argued that inclusion of a wide variety of security issues would "soon drain the term any meaning. All large-scale evils become threat to national security." Realists' position was that only those threats that could lead to armed conflict and violence should be included, not a plethora of issues. The academics were thus grouped as the traditionalist or realist on one side and non-traditionalist or liberal on the other. While the traditionalists argued for the security of the nation's "Core Value" that rested on territorial integrity, sovereignty and non-interference in the way of life, the liberals wanted to focus on issues that threaten the quality of human life.
While the realists would argue that threats of violence against the state could never be ruled out in the long run, and as such, a deterrent military posture at the minimum must be maintained, the liberal would argue that through strengthening the conflict resolution institutions, spread of democracy and human rights and through the general betterment of human life we could create condition where military deterrence would not be necessary. The liberals would, therefore, push for spread of democracy and human rights. In their view, a world of democratically elected governments would ensure peace, as originally proposed by Emanuel Kant in 1795 (Perpetual Peace).
In this era of globalization and economic interdependence, no nation is an island. What was considered "internal affairs of a sovereign state" a decade ago might be an international issue now. For example, ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, or repression on ethnic minorities in Darfur or Iran's perceived bid to acquire nuclear capability are no longer matters of domestic interest; those draw international response. Terrorism, as demonstrated by Al-Qaeda and its affiliates, pose a grave danger to international peace and security. Issues such as Climate Change would affect humanity across the globe. Poorer states are more at risk, but the richer ones cannot get away from the fallout too. Thus, while states continue to define the identity of its citizens, the focus is shifting on the quality of life of the people. Here, at home, the debate goes on. While our sovereignty and territorial integrity is not so much threatened by external powers, our burgeoning population, endemic poverty, recurrent natural calamities, illiteracy and backwardness pose serious challenge to the nationhood. The concept of national security would, therefore, be a more comprehensive exercise than what the realists would imagine.
The author is a freelancer.