Human Security: A Shotgun Approach to Alleviating Human Misery?

Abstract

Lloyd Axworthy penned an eloquent and thought-provoking essay in these pages about the necessity and utility of extending the concept of beyond the level of the state and toward individual human [1] Axworthy is not alone in making this plea: scholars have been pushing the conceptual frontiers of the term ever since the Brandt Commission's report Common Security was published in 1981. [2] Since the 1980s, foundations have poured millions into supporting works that broaden the notion of security. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have been appropriating the discourse to advance their humanitarian activities. However, when such a plea comes from an activist former minister of foreign affairs, who presumably acted on these premises while in office, it deserves special attention and reflection. Before the 1980s, the notion of national was thought to be the preserve of states. It referred to the ability of states to defend themselves against encroachments on their territorial integrity and political sovereignty. Issues of military power, strategy, and deterrence therefore loomed large. Since then, the notion of has been progressively broadened to incorporate such areas as economic privation, environmental degradation, and gender discrimination. In other words, scholars and policymakers have anointed such issues as security issues. In the parlance of the new studies, when issue areas are so anointed they become securitized. The purpose of securitizing certain issues, while leavin…