Chapter - 5
Security in the Contemporary World
Meaning of security
- Meaning of security - freedom from danger
- There is always a threat to human existence and life
- When we leave the house , danger lurks
- If you think that you are safe at home then you are mistaken
- So in such a situation we will not consider every danger as a danger
- In such a case , we will consider that threat as a threat to security which endangers the central values of life
- Central Value - Pervasive Threats ( Serious Threats )
- Hazards that , if not prevented , will cause irreparable damage
Perception of security
1. Conventional perception
- External Security
- intrinsic safety
2. Nontraditional assumptions
1. External security
- Under external security , military threats are considered more dangerous
- The source of danger is another country
- In a military attack , not only soldiers are killed
- Ordinary citizens are also killed in this
- By attacking a country with a military attack , the government of that country is demoralized
- We may face external security threats from a neighbouring country
- We know which country in the neighborhood is more powerful i.e. from whom we may be more threatened
A government has three options in case of war
- knuckle under
- Accepting the other party 's point of view without fighting
- Defending oneself in case of war ( defeating the attacker )
power balance
- When a country looks around its neighbourhood , it finds that some countries are small and some are big
- This gives an indication of which country may pose a threat to him in the future
- For example , it is possible for a neighboring country not to say that it is preparing to attack .
- There appears to be no apparent reason for the attack
- However , seeing that a country is very powerful , it can be assumed that it may attack in the future . This is why every government is sensitive about its balance of power with other countries .
- A government tries its best to tip the balance of power in its favour with another country
- Special emphasis is given on balancing power in one 's favour with countries that are close , with which there are differences or with which there has been war in the past .
- This exercise of maintaining the balance of power is mostly about increasing one 's military power , but economic and technological strength is also important because this is the basis of military power .
External security measures
- Strengthening military power
- prepare for war
- establishing a balance of power
- adopting a coalition policy
2. Internal security
It assumes that we are threatened from within the country 's borders
- incident of violence
- Communal Violence
- Separatism
- racism
- Ethnic violence
- Political instability
- Internal threats cause more harm and kill more people
Tell me the traditional way of security ?
- reducing the use of violence
- There must be a just war
- War should be fought for just causes, self-defense, to protect others from genocide
- There should be limited use of warfare
- A warring army should not kill an enemy who is reluctant to fight, an unarmed person, or an enemy who surrenders
- The army should be used only to the extent necessary for self-defense
- Use force only when all other measures fail
Disarmament
- Arms control and restoration of confidence.
- Disarmament demands that all states, regardless of their size, strength and influence, refrain from using certain types of weapons.
Example-
1. Biological Weapons Convention ( BWC) of 1972
2. Chemical Weapons Convention ( CWC) of 1992
3. The manufacture and possession of such weapons is prohibited in these treaties .
4. More than 155 countries have signed the BWC Treaty and 181 countries have signed the CWC Treaty .
5. All the superpowers are included among the signatories of both these treaties .
6. But the superpowers - America and the Soviet Union did not want to give up the option of weapons of mass destruction i.e. nuclear weapons , so both resorted to arms control .
unconventional notion of security
- The unconventional concept of security does not only include military threats .
- Rather , it covers a broad range of threats that threaten human existence .
- As -
1. Violence
2. Bloodshed
3. Famine
4. Epidemics
5. Disasters
6. Global warming
7. Terrorism
8. Diseases
9. New sources of danger
10. Terrorism
11. Poverty
12. Epidemics
13. Global warming
14. Pollution
15. Disasters
16. Refugee problem
17. Population growth
18. AIDS, Bird flu
👉 Immigrants- people who leave their home country of their own free will
👉 Refugees - people who leave the country due to compulsion like war , disaster , political crisis
👉 Internally displaced people – people who have left their homes but are within the country's borders
Collaborative security
- Today there are many types of dangers in human life and mutual cooperation is needed to deal with these dangers
- Military action cannot solve every problem in every place and under every threat
- Military power may be needed to protect terrorism and human rights, but problems like poverty eradication, oil, metals, immigrants, refugees, epidemics etc. cannot be solved by military power.
- In most cases, the use of military force makes matters worse
- In such a situation, it would be more effective to prepare a strategy with international cooperation
- Cooperation can be at bilateral, continental, regional, global level
- This will depend on the nature of the threat.
- Apart from cooperative security
a.) UNO, WHO, WB, IMF, NGO आदि
b .) Nelson Mandela
c .) Mother Teresa
- Even in cooperative security, force can be used as a last resort
- The international community can authorize the use of force to deal with governments that are killing their own people
India 's Security Strategies
- Strengthening our military capabilities
- strengthen international institutions
- Dealing with an internal problem
- Social and economic development
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