Afghanistan and Pakistan: Reorientating Military and State Security Strategies to Regional Human Security

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 44-57
Author(s):  
John Janzekovic
Author(s):  
Trudy Fraser

The ‘rebuilding’ of a society in the aftermath of conflict or mass violence often subsumes the dynamic requirements of human security into a technical task that belies or fails to fully comprehend the needs of the community being ‘built’. Indeed, as Trudy Fraser in Chapter Ten explains, critics have suggested that ‘building’ in the aftermath of conflict merely serves to impose externally configured normative benchmarks as a panacea for peace, privileging the goals of international actors at the expense of local actors. One of the main problems is that externally configured normative benchmarks do not necessarily conform to local models of peace and security. In order for the ‘building’ to be reflective of the dynamic requirements of human security, this chapter asserts that it must be responsive to the following questions: (1) who is doing the building?; (2) what is being built?; and (3) for whom is it being built? These three questions speak to separate but interrelated issues in the context of modern state-, peace- and nation-building, and highlights the ambiguity that currently exists between the initial (state-security-centric) and subsequent (human-security-centric) phases of intervention and ‘(re-)building’.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-15
Author(s):  
Riana Mardila

Abstract. It is now 48 years from the declaration of 1982 Burma Citizenship Law. A law that legally denied the citizenship of (Muslim) Rohingya in Myanmar. It means also that for 48 years (Muslim) Rohingya remains stateless. Their fight over citizenship then becomes a global, or at least a regional challenge in International Relations sphere. In one aspect, their attempt in finding asylum to other countries at some point threaten the (arrival) state’ security. However, in another side, they also fight for their (human) security or even so (human)rights. Both securities are equally important. This article is more an introduction to the Human Security concept that was first initiated in 1994. It starts with a simple question on “how does Human Security explain the issue of Rohingya?” It seeks for key points that Human Security can explain by reflecting on Rohingya as the case study. It aims to give a bigger picture of this conflict interpreted by Human Security concept. Finally, as we are living in the globalization era, this issue is not only a state or regional challenge, but also a global challenge where IR actors can take responsibilities in helping and solving this human insecurity issue. Keywords: Rohingya; Human Security. Abstrak. Telah berlangsung 48 tahun sejak deklarasi Undang-undang Kewarganegaraan Burma 1982. Sebuah undang-undang yang secara hukum menolak kewarganegaraan (Muslim) Rohingya di Myanmar. Itu juga berarti bahwa selama 48 tahun (Muslim) Rohingya tetap tanpa kewarganegaraan. Perjuangan mereka atas kewarganegaraan kemudian menjadi tantangan global, atau setidaknya tantangan regional dalam ranah Hubungan Internasional. Di satu aspek, upaya mereka untuk mencari suaka ke negara lain pada titik tertentu mengancam keamanan (kedatangan) negara. Namun di sisi lain, mereka juga memperjuangkan keamanan (manusia) atau bahkan lebih (hak asasi manusia). Kedua sekuritas itu sama pentingnya. Artikel ini lebih merupakan pengenalan tentang konsep Keamanan Manusia yang pertama kali dimulai pada tahun 1994. Artikel ini dimulai dengan pertanyaan sederhana tentang "bagaimana Keamanan Manusia menjelaskan masalah Rohingya?" Ini mencari poin-poin penting yang dapat dijelaskan oleh Human Security dengan merefleksikan Rohingya sebagai studi kasus. Hal ini bertujuan untuk memberikan gambaran yang lebih besar tentang konflik yang ditafsirkan oleh konsep Human Security. Terakhir, saat kita hidup di era globalisasi, masalah ini tidak hanya menjadi tantangan negara atau regional, tetapi juga tantangan global di mana para aktor IR dapat mengambil tanggung jawab dalam membantu dan menyelesaikan masalah ketidakamanan manusia ini.Kata Kunci. Rohingya; Keamanan Manusia.


2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Awino Okech

This paper focuses on contemporary challenges to the human security framework through an examination of asymmetrical conflict generated by extremist insurgents, specifically Al Shabaab in Kenya. The political and security dynamics generated by extremist groups often find reinforcement in local contestations over power and territory, resulting in an interaction between local and 'external'. It is the product of these interactions in the form of opportunities, resultant discourses, responses and what they offer to an expansion of normative ideas about human security and conflict that this paper focuses on. Using Kenya as a case study, this paper explores the interface between the growth of Al Shabaab, securitisation of governance and political elite consensus on the policy relationship between human security versus a state security model. This paper pursues the argument that the rise in the intensity and nature of Al Shabaab attacks in Kenya has influenced the interpretation of the country's security  threats and the application of strategies. Rather than aiding the application of human security as central to national security, it has rolled back previous gains.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry Indrawan ◽  
M. Prakoso Aji

<p>Indonesia currently faces multidimensional threats, from small to large, concerning all aspects of the country's life, from ideology, politics, economics, social, culture, defense, and security. The nature of contemporary threat has a human security aspect rather than only state security. As such, a thorough effort is needed to deal with those Threats, Disruption, Obstacle, Challenge (TDOC). State defense can be the answer to such problems because state defense itself can be interpreted as an obligation and responsibility of citizens to maintain the existence and sovereignty of the state. State defense will be optimal if disseminated through formal education. In this case, the formal education in question is at the level of higher education. This paper proposes that state defense can be held at higher education level in the form of university compulsory course, and is organized under the name State Defense Education. This State Defense Education is not military education or conscription, but an education that is adjusted to the condition and nuance of higher education.</p><p><strong>Keywords:</strong> Threat, Human Security, State Defense, and State Defense Education</p>


2022 ◽  
pp. 109-123
Author(s):  
Sirin Duygulu

It is the argument of this chapter that the COVID-19 pandemic created a need to problematize how we understand security, especially the contrast between state security and human security. This chapter argues that the pandemic has illustrated the importance of human security as well as the need to understand it as a precondition for, and not as an alternative to, state and international security. However, the study does not argue that the increased importance of human security translates into the protection of all humans. The crude reality that security is always at someone's and something's expense sustains vulnerabilities within societies. The study acknowledges that the changes in the security implications (both material and perceived) do not necessarily or automatically translate to changes in policies. Institutional resistance to change and general political trends among other factors affect the extent to which policies will evolve in a direction that would better meet the security implications of the pandemic.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thuso Benton Mongwaketse

South Africa adopted a human security orientation at the start of its democratic epoch in 1994, but its operationalisation by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) proved difficult to implement. Human security is an approach to security which prioritises the protection of the people over security of the state. One of its central tenets is that security is best achieved through development as opposed to arms. Against this backdrop, the principal objective of this article is to critically analyse and understand South Africa's official human security orientation. Two indicators, the functions performed by the SANDF as well as South Africa's strategic defence posture, were assessed to achieve the objective. The securitisation model associated with Barry Buzan and Ole Wæver was used as a theoretical framework to understand South Africa's official conception and utilisation of human security. It was found that the SANDF's operational functioning was compromised by having to perform its primary responsibilities along with secondary developmental tasks demanded by the broad mandate of human security. Furthermore, while South Africa lexically took human security and state security to be equally important, in practice the SANDF tended to prioritise state security ahead of human security both at home and abroad. Some analysts detected lack of strategic coherence in South Africa's security engagements in Africa while ignoring extensive efforts of the SANDF to bring peace, and not destabilisation, on the continent as part of the strategic defence posture. Ultimately, this article argues that the competency with which the SANDF ensures Strategic Review for Southern Africa, Vol 38, No 2 Thuso Benton Mongwaketse  29 state security must be cascaded down to the human level by taking up more secondary functions with some provisos. Alignment of defence policy and adequate resources as well as the involvement of the people will be indispensable towards realisation of true human security.


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