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Global Security

Security In The Contemporary World (Chapter Title)

Security in the Contemporary World** explores the evolving understanding of security beyond traditional military threats. It examines how the nature of threats has changed in the post-Cold War era, encompassing a wider range of issues that impact human survival and well-being.

This includes traditional notions of state security as well as newer, non-traditional threats that affect individuals and societies globally.


What Is Security?

Security** generally refers to the state of being free from danger, threat, or harm. In the context of international relations and politics, it relates to the measures taken by states to ensure their safety, survival, and well-being.

  • Traditional View: Traditionally, security was primarily understood in terms of national security, focusing on protecting the state from external military aggression.
  • Broader View: In contemporary times, the concept of security has broadened to include human security**, which encompasses threats to individuals and communities, such as poverty, disease, environmental degradation, and human rights abuses.
  • Sources of Threat: Threats can be military (invasion, war), economic (poverty, resource scarcity), environmental (climate change, pollution), or social (terrorism, pandemics).

Understanding security requires looking at both the state and the individual as referent objects of security.


Traditional Notions: External

Traditional notions of external security** primarily focus on the threats emanating from outside the state's borders.

  • Military Threats: The most prominent external threat is military invasion or attack by another state.
  • State Sovereignty: Protecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the state from external aggression is paramount.
  • National Defence: States build up their military capabilities (army, navy, air force), form alliances, and engage in diplomacy to deter external threats and defend themselves.
  • Balance of Power: Historically, states have sought to maintain a balance of power among nations to prevent any single state from becoming too dominant and threatening others.
  • Deterrence: The development of military capabilities, especially nuclear weapons, aims to deter potential adversaries from attacking.

This perspective views the international system as anarchic, where states must rely on their own strength (or alliances) for security.


Traditional Notions: Internal

Traditional notions of internal security** primarily focus on maintaining law and order within the state's borders.

  • Maintaining Law and Order: This involves preventing and controlling crime, managing civil unrest, and ensuring the safety of citizens and property.
  • State's Monopoly on Force: The state is generally considered to have the legitimate monopoly on the use of force within its territory.
  • Police and Judiciary: Internal security is maintained through the functions of the police (enforcing laws, investigating crimes) and the judiciary (adjudicating disputes and punishing offenders).
  • Preventing Insurgency and Rebellion: Protecting the state from internal armed opposition or separatist movements that threaten its unity or existence.
  • Stability of Government: Ensuring the stability of the existing political order and preventing challenges to the government's authority.

While distinct from external threats, internal security issues can sometimes be influenced by external factors or can escalate to pose a threat to the state's overall security.


Traditional Security And Cooperation

Traditional security** frameworks often emphasize state-centric approaches** and the role of military power. However, cooperation also plays a part:

  • Alliances: States form military alliances (like NATO, Warsaw Pact during the Cold War) to enhance their collective security against common external threats.
  • Arms Control Treaties: Agreements aimed at limiting the production, proliferation, or use of certain weapons (especially nuclear weapons) are a form of cooperation in traditional security.
  • Diplomacy: States use diplomacy to negotiate treaties, manage disputes, and prevent conflicts that could escalate into war.
  • Confidence-Building Measures: Actions taken by states to reduce mutual suspicion and increase transparency regarding military activities.

While traditional security often focuses on competition and self-reliance, cooperation through alliances and treaties has been a recurring feature to manage the risks associated with military power.


Non-Traditional Notions

Non-traditional security** broadens the concept of security beyond military threats to encompass a wider range of issues that affect the well-being and survival of individuals and societies. These threats are often human-centric.

  • Human Security: This concept emphasizes protecting individuals from threats to their daily lives, encompassing freedom from fear (violence, terrorism) and freedom from want (poverty, disease, environmental degradation).
  • Economic Security: Ensuring access to basic necessities, jobs, and economic stability.
  • Health Security: Protecting populations from pandemics, epidemics, and ensuring access to healthcare.
  • Environmental Security: Addressing threats posed by climate change, pollution, resource scarcity (like water), and ecological degradation.
  • Personal Security: Protection from crime, violence, and human rights abuses.
  • Community Security: Preserving cultural identity and traditions, and protecting communities from discrimination and displacement.

These non-traditional threats often require cooperation across borders and involve actors beyond the state, such as international organizations, NGOs, and civil society.


New Sources Of Threats

In the contemporary world, several factors have contributed to the emergence of new and complex sources of threats:

  • Globalization: Increased interconnectedness through trade, travel, and communication has made the world more vulnerable to the rapid spread of diseases (pandemics), transnational crime, and the global flow of information (and misinformation).
  • Terrorism: Transnational terrorist groups operating across borders pose a significant threat to both state security and human security, using modern technology and ideologies.
  • Climate Change: Environmental degradation, rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and resource scarcity (especially water) threaten ecosystems, economies, and human settlements, potentially leading to displacement and conflict.
  • Cyber Security: The increasing reliance on digital infrastructure makes societies vulnerable to cyber-attacks that can disrupt economies, critical infrastructure, and government functions.
  • Pandemics: As seen with COVID-19, global health crises can overwhelm healthcare systems, disrupt economies, and cause widespread social and political instability.
  • Migration and Displacement: Large-scale movements of people due to conflict, environmental factors, or economic hardship can create humanitarian crises and social tensions.

These threats are often interconnected and require multilateral cooperation to address effectively.


Cooperative Security

Cooperative Security** is an approach to security that emphasizes collaboration and mutual trust among states to address common threats, rather than relying solely on individual national capabilities or alliances against potential adversaries.

  • Shared Threats: It recognizes that many contemporary security challenges (like terrorism, pandemics, climate change, cyber-attacks) are transnational and cannot be effectively tackled by any single nation acting alone.
  • Multilateralism: It promotes the use of international organizations and diplomatic channels for dialogue, cooperation, and joint action.
  • Building Trust: Cooperative security involves measures to build trust among nations, such as transparency in military activities, arms control agreements, and joint exercises or initiatives.
  • Human Security Focus: It often incorporates elements of human security, recognizing that the well-being of individuals is integral to the security of the state and the international system.
  • Examples: International efforts to combat terrorism, coordinate pandemic responses, manage climate change, and regulate cyber space are examples of cooperative security in practice.

This approach shifts the focus from a zero-sum game of national security to a positive-sum approach where collective security benefits all.


India’s Security Strategy

India's security strategy is shaped by its geopolitical context, its history, and its evolving understanding of security threats. It aims to protect its national interests while navigating a complex international environment.

  • Traditional Security Concerns:
    • Military Preparedness: Maintaining strong defence capabilities to deter external aggression, particularly from nuclear-armed neighbours like Pakistan and China.
    • Border Management: Securing its long land and maritime borders.
    • Alliances and Partnerships: Engaging in strategic partnerships and dialogues with various countries (including the US, Russia, France, Japan, Australia) to enhance its security cooperation and balance regional power dynamics.
  • Non-Traditional Security Concerns: India recognizes the growing importance of non-traditional threats:
    • Combating Terrorism: India has been a victim of cross-border terrorism and actively engages in counter-terrorism efforts, both domestically and internationally.
    • Economic Security: Ensuring energy security, food security, and protecting its economy from global shocks.
    • Environmental Security: Addressing the impacts of climate change and managing natural resources sustainably.
    • Cyber Security: Developing capabilities to protect its digital infrastructure and counter cyber threats.
    • Health Security: Strengthening its public health systems to respond to pandemics and health crises.
  • Strategic Autonomy: India aims to maintain strategic autonomy in its foreign and security policy, making decisions based on its national interests rather than aligning with any particular bloc.
  • Defence Modernization: Continuous efforts are made to modernize its defence forces and indigenous defence production capabilities.
  • Diplomacy: India actively uses diplomacy to resolve disputes peacefully, promote regional stability, and build consensus on global security challenges.