A Conceptual Framework for Human Security.
Abstract
Following a definition of human security, this paper introduces the altered security environment that has mobilized the reconsideration of recent approaches to conflict, poverty, and state security. It identifies three common descriptions of the altered security environments: (1) empirical changes in the nature of security threats; (2) analytical advances, for example in understanding the interdependence between security threats; (3) institutional changes both within security structures and at the national and international levels. The third section briefly makes the rounds of international institutions, countries, and researchers that propose alternative ways of defining and specifying human security. Diverse definitions of human security often reflect the comparative advantage of the implementing institution, or address threats that are not met by other means. This diversity is not only comprehensible; it is positively desirable. Thus the section concludes that any normative definition that aspires to be genuinely useful must be vague enough to include the diverse specifications. It may also be helpful to supplement the normative definition with a procedural account of how to specify the human security lens in concrete practical situations. In response to these conclusions, and building on others' definitions, the fourth section proposes and elaborates a conceptual framework for human security. The fifth section relates this framework to state security, human development, and human rights.
Citation
CRISE Working Paper 2, 53 pp.
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